Beyond Strange Souls
by Kurama Uzumaki
Summary: Max is lost and afraid when she is forced to leave Arcadia Bay with her parents and abandon her best friend, shortly after all the pain and emotion her powers manifest but is she a Talent or is she the second person in history to possess a personal Entity. The DPA quickly takes interest while Jodie hopes that there really is someone like her, who can understand.
1. Chapter 1

**Taken from All That Is Known**

It was the worst pain any person could ever possibly feel, the pain tore at Max's heart as she looked out the window of her parent's car. Max looked at the house she had spent most of her childhood in as tears streamed down her face while her best friend, Chloe, stood in front of her half-painted home.

Even from this distance Max could see the tears rolling down Chloe's cheeks, nearly mimicking her own as she sat in the car powerless to do anything. She wanted to throw the door open and hug her, promise her that she wasn't going anywhere and that she would always be there for her.

Max could do none of that, all she could do was wait for her parents to finish packing the car with her clothes and belongings that had taken residence in the Price Household over the years. Her heart nearly shattered when she heard the thump of the boot closing and from the way Chloe's knees trembled it looked like the girl was close to losing it completely.

Her parents got into the car and Max watched Chloe slowly walk towards the car, one last desperate goodbye on both of their minds. Her mind muted out her mother calling her name as she pressed the button on the arm rest of the door to slide the window down.

Chloe stood there, looking at her friend as a gentle breeze disturbed her blond hair while tears continued to pour. "T-this… This is it h-huh?" Chloe's voice cracked and she stuttered as she asked her friend the damning question.

"I…uh…Ye-year…" Lifting her arm the youngest Caulfield used the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe away some of the tears while Chloe continued to look at her. "I'll call…every day Che, I…"

Max held her tongue, there was nothing she could say that could make her friend feel better or take away the pain. William was like a father to her as well but she still had her father, Chloe didn't and now she was basically abandoning her best friend when she needed her the most.

Max stood up as much as she could and reached out for Chloe, the taller girl quickly coming closer and hugging her friend tightly. Vanessa and Ryan looked at the two girls, the Pirates of Arcadia Bay and not for the first time regretted the decision to go to Seattle.

This situation definitely wasn't ideal but they thought that moving away from pain like this would help Max. Ryan's promotion at work was the main cause of them moving to Seattle and Max had always told them that she did like Arcadia Bay but would love if they could move away from the town.

After five minutes Chloe pulled back, causing Max to sit back down and look up at her only friend in the world. Both their faces were covered with still wet tear marks and Chloe gave Max a sad smile before the car started moving.

"This will be good for us Max, we can go see the sights in Seattle and you can make new friends at school." Vanessa told her daughter, trying desperately to highlight the positives of the situation but Max quickly muted her voice, whatever her mother was saying becoming background noise to the sound of her life falling apart.

She looked at quickly for as long as she could before they turned a corner onto a main road in Arcadia Bay and she disappeared. Max closed her eyes, hoping desperately that it was all just a big nightmare, that once she opened her eyes she would be back in Chloe's house eating Joyce's pancakes with William never getting into that accident.

She begged, screamed and pleaded in her mind for whatever god or being that existed to undo all of this and send her back. Back to when she and Chloe were happy, when they were the Pirates of Arcadia Bay and had nothing to worry about but school and homework.

She quickly became lightheaded and Max fell onto her side all the grace of a falling tree, her head bouncing against the upholstery slightly. She felt funny, like she was going to throw up and have her head split open at the same time.

She stopped her begging and started crying softly to herself, soft whimpers and tears the only indication that she wasn't sleeping. She ignored everything around her, the way she bumped against the back of the seat as if the car just started and how they turned even though this road out of Arcadia Bay was straight.

After a few minutes Max fell asleep, the tear she shed slowly running down her face while she clutched the Captain to her chest tightly.

 **ooo000ooo**

Jodie Holmes was a very awkward and sheltered teenage girl, far more than any regular teenagers considering she had no social life or friends. Considering where she lived from sometime after he eighth birthday it wasn't that much of a surprise.

The thirteen-year old girl didn't hate it in the DPA Facility but it wasn't exactly child oriented with the black grey corridors, doors without labels and her lack of utter freedom. It could be worse but it could also be a lot better, she could go almost anywhere in the facility and even some places she wasn't supposed to with Aiden's help.

She'd begged Nathan to let her go outside for a bit, explore the world and expand her horizons outside of the drab and boring Lab Facility. He'd denied her at every time, making other concessions instead of just letting her go outside and get a coffee from a Starbucks for the first time in her life.

She had the best tutor's money could buy, did tests on Aiden's powers and how much she could control him but besides that she had nothing. She could listen to the radio and get tiny glimpses of the outside world with her heavily restricted internet access.

"I know Aiden, I get it." Jodie mumbled after her Entity made a soft growling noise while she lay on her bed looking at the ceiling. "My life starts and ends with this place, we're both stuck here and Life sucks."

He made another noise as the lights to every area of her room shut off and slowly moved until he was floating above her bed, imitating someone sitting on the edge. Turning her head to her left Jodie looked at her bedside clock and frowned, Aiden quickly showing his displeasure as well.

It was only six o'clock right now, four hours too early for them to want her to go to bed and considering the clock still showed the time it wasn't a power failure. Getting off of her bed Jodie walked towards the large two-way mirror that took up most of a wall in the kitchen/sitting room.

"Hey, anybody there?!" She had no need to yell considering the high-tech microphones they had but they responded faster whenever she did, well…. If she wasn't angry at them that is. "Hey Cole, are you back there? What's going on?"

Jodie stood there like an idiot with her arms crossed for at least a minute while she waited for anyone to answer her through the speaker system in her 'home'. Getting fed up she gestured to Aiden and the Entity quickly floated through the one-way mirror into the control room for her rooms.

Closing her eyes Jodie saw what Aiden saw as he looked around, empty seats with computer monitors lighting up the otherwise dark room. This was usually how the room looked when she had lessons or free time but considering there was a test in half an hour it told them both something was wrong.

"Open the doors Aiden." A few seconds later there was the metallic click of two sets of doors unlocking themselves after her manipulated the locks. She gave him a mumbled 'thank you' as she walked into the control room and them into a bland, grey corridor.

Looking left and right Jodie quietly closed the door behind her before choosing to walk towards Nathan's office. It was only two corridors down from her room so the trip was short and she didn't bump into anyone on the way there so that was a plus.

Most days the corridors were empty as everyone was where they needed to be so the thing that told her that something was happening were the flickering wall lights. Cole had one told her that the Facility ran off of a tri-core thermal generator that couldn't go offline from too much power draw or a short circuit.

She hadn't understood most of what he told her at the time but what she did understand was that there could never be not energy electricity for the facility. Knocking on the door to Nathan's office Jodie took a step back as she waited for the door to open.

She frowned when nobody did and she couldn't hear anything coming from inside the office. Stepping forwards she grabbed the door handle only to find it lock only for it to open on her second try after she hear the bolt on the door open itself.

"Thanks." Walking into the office she saw darkness before switching the lights on to reveal a desk filled with papers, files and a large computer screen. Not surprising since Nathan was the boss of the Facility so he was the one that had to deal with all the shit that went on as well as the things Aiden did when he was bored.

Dropping herself into his leather padded spinning chair Jodie hit the power button on the screen and voila. Nathan had left it unlocked just like he always did, most times it was Cole that locked the computer for the man.

"Hey Aiden, see if you can find anyone okay?" Her Entity mumbled his reply before floating through the walls, intent on going as far as he could. Jodie herself spent the next twenty minutes going through Nathan's computer, opening recent files first before looking deeper.

Nathan was always secretive but she ignored it as he was a kind of substitute father for her considering her real 'father' was an asshole and hated her. That was alright with her, when he and her 'mother' left her here she wanted Aiden to kill the man.

She now knew being an eight-year-old murderer was a very bad thing but considering how angry he always was and how close he came to abusing her whenever he got angry. Some of the files she was reading threw doubt and suspicion at her pseudo father Nathan Dawkins.

Something especially disturbing was the videos of her in the bathroom, the bathroom in her room whenever she went to bath or shower. Quickly deleting and memorising where the cameras were, she shut down the computer after corrupting a few files in anger as well.

Aiden seemed to know what she had found when he returned considering how angry he was but he did tell her where everyone was. They were in the basement lab of the Facility, an area the was supposed to be locked away from her but with Aiden's help the locks and security scans proved more annoyances than barriers.

Reaching the first main room Jodie began her search for Cole or Nathan while Aiden floated about, looking at why all the lab techs and assistants were rushing about. Jodie could feel the knowledge of their activities slowly trickling into her mind and while she didn't understand a lot of it she did get the general idea.

"Jodie!" The girl spun around to see Cole Freeman, maybe her only sorta-friend, walking towards her with a tablet in hand. "What are you doing here, thought you weren't allowed in here?" That was what she liked about Cole, he didn't chastise her like every other adult.

"That's why I'm here." She told the man when the lights in the room flickered and she started walking next to him as he went towards another section of the lab. "What's going on Cole, my lights cut out and Aiden says that everyone's going mad here about something Emerging?"

Letting out a sigh instead of asking her how her Entity knew that Cole led her towards a doorway at the back of the room. Jodie raised an eyebrow when she saw the kind of security on the door, retina scanner, fingerprint scanner along with a final key-card lock.

Aiden could get her in after half a minute maybe but it was the amount of security on the door that surprised her. Most doors in the facility had maybe a fingerprint scanner or key-card lock and that was it, whatever was behind this door had to be extremely important.

After they walked through Jodie took in the room while Aiden growled softly as he began moving around, looking at the large sphere in the centre of the room that had ring, upon ring of high-tech super-computers around it.

"W-what the hell is this?" Jodie whispered softly as she continued to gaze at everything, she was a confident thirteen-year-old and she was quite strong and self-assured but the feeling of that sphere thing made her weak and tired, reminding her that for all she was she was still only a thirteen-year-old girl.

"This is the PathFinder, a machine we made to detect anomalies in the 'fabric of reality'." Cole said as they walked down a small set of stairs. "It's how we were able to find you and Aiden, you disturbed reality around, especially when Aiden does stuff."

"You mean…You can tell where I am with this thing?" Cole gave her an absent-minded nod as he read something from him tablet only to nearly drop it a second later. "Then why are there fucking camera's in my room!?"

"Jesus Christ girl." He told her as he had one hand clutching his chest and Jodie at least had the decency to look embarrassed. "PathFinder can't tell us exactly where people like you are Jodie, we can get it down to a city at best if we're lucky."

"What do you mean people like me? Are there other people like me an Aiden, people with Entities?" Jodie asked excitedly and she didn't notice the sombre look on Cole's face while she thought of how great it would be if there really was someone else that was like her.

"Jodie…I-I really have to work on this, can you go back to your room?" Cole told her causing Jodie to look at him with a confused expression. "This is really important alright? I'll come by later and explain everything to you."

"I-uhm, alright." Giving him a nod, Jodie turned around and walked through the heavily secured door Aiden quickly unlocked while Cole moved towards one of the computer stations closest to the PathFinder.

 **ooo000ooo**

"Max, c'mon Max it's time for breakfast." Ryan said through the closed, locked, door of her daughter's bedroom. "Vanessa made your favourite, Blueberry Pancakes with cheese."

Max tried her best to ignore her father as she lay on her bed, Captain clutched tightly to her chest while she looked blankly at the wall in front of her. They'd been in Seattle for two days and leaving Chloe, Arcadia Bay and losing William still hurt her deeply, even more so now that she didn't have Che by her side.

They'd talked over the phone, most of the time it was just both of them listening to each other's breath as they sat there taking comfort in one another's pseudo presence. In fact, that was what hurt Max the most about the whole thing, having Chloe so close to her yet so much farther away.

Her parents did try, they really did want her to have a good time in this place and to build a new life in Seattle. She just couldn't, her life was in Arcadia Bay with her best friend Chloe Price, to basically abandon her when Chloe needed her most tore Max nearly in two.

The only thing that really held Max together at this point was the fact that she could still talk with Chloe over the phone. Her dad promised her that he'd take her shopping this weekend for a cell phone so that she could text Chloe whenever she wanted.

Her dad knocked on her door again in an attempt to get Max to come outside, eat breakfast and go to her first day of School. She thought of trying to stay home and not go but in the end her logic and self-preservation won out, forcing her to get off of her bed and go to her bedroom door.

Ryan Caulfield nearly jumped for joy when he heard the lock on his daughter's bedroom click open only for him to nearly drop to his knees in sadness. Max stood in front of him, still wearing the same clothes she had on when they left Arcadia Bay, old and fresh tears marks marring her freckled face while her hair was half-in, half-out of her normal ponytail.

"Max…sweetie, let's get you cleaned up alright?" He gently placed a hand on her shoulder and when she didn't shrug it off, began leading her to the bathroom. There he spent the next ten minutes cleaning her face and convincing her to take a shower while he brought her breakfast to her room.

When she didn't argue or rebuke him Ryan took that as her agreement before he walked out and closed the bathroom door behind him. "How's she doing?" Vanessa asked her husband as she sat at the small dining table, her empty plate already in the sink.

"She's in a lot of pain, losing William and leaving Chloe behind was really bad." He told her as he took a plate before putting food on it two pancakes on it with a little cheese. "We shouldn't have left, even with my promotion you and Max could've stayed in the Bay."

"Then what Ryan, Max already lost William and it would've been worse if she suddenly stopped seeing you all the time." She rebuked while he sat in the chair across from her, taking the hand on the table with his own. "I know Chloe meant a lot to Max but she'll get over it."

"You know she won't Vanessa, ever since she met her Chloe's been Max's entire world." Vanessa had to drop her head slightly when he reminded her of that. "She was always so happy when they were together and over the last year I could see Max really cared about Chloe, she was probably in love with the girl."

It was something that Vanessa had also seen in their daughter, Max had started looking at Chloe the way she looked at Ryan. It didn't help that Chloe did the same, looking like she wanted nothing more than to cuddle with Max and hold her tight and never do anything else.

"Sh-should we send her to therapy?" Ryan wasn't surprised how desperate she sounded when she asked him that, he'd thought about it yesterday at work. "I mean…they could help her right, get her to move past this?"

"It's a bad idea Vanessa. Max doesn't need therapy, all she needs is her friend and we took that away from her." He stood up and walked towards the hallway after grabbing Max's plate of food but not before speaking again. "It wouldn't surprise if she started hating us for that."

When he reached Max's room he peered through the open doorway and saw his daughter sitting on her bed with a towel wrapped around her body. Her hair was still dripping wet, evidenced by the water running down her shoulders, while she stared at her closed cupboard.

"Hey there short-cake, brought some pancakes." Ryan told her with an uneasy smile which turned into a despairing sigh when Max didn't even twitch. "How about I help you pick out your clothes today, it'll be just like the old day?"

Not waiting for her to say anything Ryan opened her cupboard and began looking through all the clothes that she had inside. He had some idea of what she could wear together considering Vanessa had asked him often enough to grabbed some clothes for her when she was in a rush in the morning.

He grabbed Max's usual grey hoodie, a pair of light blue jeans and a sleeveless white shirt for her to wear underneath. Her old and faded grey sneakers were put on the floor next to her bed along with some grey socks that he found hiding inside one of her other shoes.

Putting everything on or on the floor near her bed Ryan left her to get changed, closing the door behind him before he began getting ready for work. He honestly hoped Vanessa could do something when she dropped Max off at school.

Max herself looked at her door after her father closed it, dull blue eyes looking at the white paint of the wood. Slowly she stood up, dropping the towel onto the floor and moving to her cupboard to her a bra and panty for herself.

Not caring if they matched or not Max grabbed the first ones she saw and pulled them one before looking at the clothes on her bed. Considering she was a Waif Hipster, whatever Chloe meant when she told her friend that, she would normally be excited to see the clothes she liked.

Now it only reminded her of the time she spent with Chloe but she nonetheless pulled it on, her hair getting her hoodie and shirt wet as she did so. She grabbed a band before pulling her hair into a ponytail, her half-hearted attempt got her a lopsided one but a ponytail either way.

Once she was dressed Max looked at the food her father had brought her as she heard the sounds of him saying goodbye to Vanessa and leaving for work. She hadn't felt hungry over the past few days despite barely eating any food and it was starting to affect her considering how weak and tired she felt.

Grabbing the fork and knife next to the plate Max began to slowly cut the pancake into bite sized pieces before eating them. She managed to finish three-quarters of the first one before she couldn't eat anymore and knew she'd be sick if she even tried.

Putting it on her desk Max grabbed her messenger bag filled with her school books and the Polaroid photo of her and Chloe. Looking down at the picture Max gave a tiny, sad smile as she saw how happy the two of them were cuddling on the couch as they watched Blade Runner on the tv.

Looking deeper Max could almost hear the sound of the movie as she focused on the picture, nearly feel Chloe's breath on her neck as her head lay on the shoulder of the older girl's shoulder while her own head was inches away from the back of Max's neck.

For a second she could see the tv, Blade Runner flashing on the screen and feeling Chloe's hand in hers instead of seeing from the view William's Polaroid Camera took. Closing her eyes and wiping away the tears that fell Max placed the photo back on her desk, the edge underneath a crocodile clip to keep it in place.

Closing her eyes when depression and despair hit her with a double punch Max had to breathe deeply for a few minutes to keep her composure. Grabbing her wallet from her bedside table Max walked down the hall towards the front door where her mother was waiting for her.

"Ready for your first day of school Max?" Vanessa asked with a smile but her daughter only looked at her with a blank expression with a small nod of her head. "Do you have everything you need?"

"I need my Che." Max whispered quietly enough that her mother heard she said something but didn't know what her daughter had said. "I'm fine, can we just go?"

Vanessa frowned slightly but opened the door anyway and Max got into her mother's car while she locked the house behind her. The buildings went by in a blur as Vanessa drove the six blocks to Max's school that was literally on the road to her work.

Soon enough Max was getting out of the car and walking towards the school gates after saying goodbye to her mother. The cold wind of Seattle Winter chilled her still wet hair as she walked and Max could see out the corners of her eyes a few kids pointing at her and whispering.

She paid them no attention as she walked into the school building at went straight to the reception office. Knocking on the wooden door Max opened it a second later and stepped inside the generic office that had a secretary sitting behind her desk sorting through papers.

"Hi…I'm Max Caulfield, I'm starting here today." She told the lady in a monotone voice which was quickly becoming the norm for her. "My mom said I needed to get checked in a get my class schedule."

"Yes, here we go Maxine Caulfield." The lady said as she grabbed a file that was sitting on the edge of her desk while Max mumbled under her breath. "After seeing your marks from Arcadia Elementary you should fit right in here."

Taking the file Max automatically checked the contents while tuning out the droning of the secretary as deep inside her it finally hit home. Her world view completely shattered as the world took on a bleaker hue than before as she realized that this was her new life, one without her Chloe Price.

Taking out her class schedule she looked at it and couldn't even summon up the emotion to groan at it. Having double Mathematics and Chemistry on her first day of school completely paled in comparison to the destruction of her life.

She left the office, not noticing the secretary was still talking, as she put her class schedule in her bag and looked for where she was supposed to go on the map of the school she'd been given. She brushed past countless other students, more than a few giving her a wide berth as they took in her appearance, expression and wet hair.

Stuffing the books she didn't need into the locker she had been assigned, Max closed it after changing the combination and made her way towards her class. The door was open and the classroom was empty so she decided to take a seat at the very back of the class in the corner of the room.

She pulled out a notepad and her pencil bag before leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes as she waited for class to start. Without thought she pulled one arm across her chest, as if she was holding Captain to her body with it while she tried to drown herself in happy memories.

It wasn't long before the class was filled with students and the bell rang as the teacher walked in, dropping his bag next to the desk in front. "Alright, settle down everyone." He told them and surprisingly they all did. "I know you all had lovely weekends but it is time to focus on school again."

"Now, we have a new student joining us today so I'd like all of you to at least make an effort so that she feels welcome." Spying a quick look at her schedule again Max read her Mathematics teacher's name was Terrance Williams. "Why don't you stand up and give us a bit of an introduction?"

Looking around the room at all the students staring at her Max briefly considered shaking her head but eventually stood up. "My names Max Caulfield, I left Arcadia Bay to be here, I abandoned my best friend and I really don't want to be here in Seattle."

"Well-uh…thank you for…that Max." Williams said awkwardly as a depressive atmosphere blanketed the class. "Anyway, today we're going to be learning about the Pythagorean Theorem, so if you could…"

His voice became a dull buzz just like everyone else's had become in the past few days but she still managed to somehow open her book to the right page and take down proper notes on the lesson. Most of the students ignored her as she did the same to them, even Williams didn't want to call on her to answer a question.

Max blinked in confusion half an hour later as she sat under the tree in the small grass area that the school had next to the cafeteria. She couldn't feel water running down her neck anymore so her hair was dry and she had a tray with a small amount of food sitting on her lap.

The last that she could remember actually doing was sitting down after introducing herself in first period. She knew how she got here and everything in between the two events but Max couldn't remember doing it herself or wanting to.

Ignoring her food Max reached into her bag and pulled out her Mathematics and Chemistry Notebooks. She flipped through the first ten pages of each of them and saw every page completely covered in notes that couldn't possibly be her handwriting.

She grabbed her diary from her bag and opened to the last entry…the day before William died in the car crash. She put it next to her open Chemistry book and there was a major difference between the two styles of writing.

"This isn't possible." Max whispered to herself as she grabbed a pen and started writing in her diary, watching the neat and perfect style of writing appear on the page in the wake of the tip of her black pen. "What the hell is happening?"

Her head jerked up when she heard the shrill screech of the school's bell and she stuffed her books back into her bag before nearly inhaling the food on the lunch tray. She'd put enough on that she was full but not too much that it would take too long to eat, a good thing considering she had to rush a bit.

For the rest of the day Max questioned what was happening to her, desperate for answers other than she was going crazy. She noticed how while thinking deeply and questioning her sanity during her classes that her hands moved automatically, writing notes and she could clearly remember with disturbing clarity what every teacher in her class had said.

Hell, she could remember what she heard other students whisper or talk to each other about in class and as they walked down the hallways. When the final bell rang Max was one of the first out the school gates without looking like she'd run or was in a rush.

Since her mother and father were still at work Max had to walk the six blocks back home, where she could hopefully find out what the hell was going on.

 **ooo000ooo**

"I-I don't get it…why didn't you tell me about this before?" Jodie asked Cole and Nathan as she sat in the latter's office a week after she saw PathFinder. "There are other people like me? You made me feel so alone…Like I really was a freak."

"Jodie…you're not a freak, we didn't tell you because there really isn't anyone like you." Nathan told the girl, reaching a hand to take one of hers by the girl pulled them off the table and onto her lap. "The others Jodie, they have powers yes, talents that normal people don't but they don't have an Entity with them like you do."

"But…you said that PathFinder found me, that it finds them as well." She was very near tears as she sat there while Aiden floated above her with no idea how to comfort her. "That means they have to have Entities, right? Something has to help them do those things."

"They don't Max, PathFinder can't tell the difference between a Talent and an Entite like you far away but we bring them here. In the same building, it can tell us the difference, even what they can do sometimes." Cole cut in as gently as he could and cringed slightly when he saw tears building in her eyes.

"We didn't want to tell you and get your hopes up Jodie, we've never come across someone else like you." He continued as the tears slowly ran down her face and fell onto her hands. "I really don't want to see you hurt if I'm wrong Jodie but this one does seem similar to when we found you."

"W-what…do you mean similar?" Jodie heard Aiden's warning growl that he gave the two unhearing men as a flicker of hope settled in Jodie's mind. "Are you…"

"The data PathFinder is receiving does indicate that an Entity is involved but we're still not sure if it's bound to a person or merely an extremely unusual talent." Nathan told her and despite the negative ending Jodie began feeling very hopeful about this now.

"Can I…Can I help?" Cole looked almost ready to take her to PathFinder right now while Nathan looked as if he wanted to reject the idea outright. "Aiden can help as well, he can tell you about stuff he feels. He really didn't like being near PathFinder but…he told me he could feel."

"What do you mean he could feel Jodie?" Nathan asked, his face filled with curiosity as he suddenly became somewhat supportive of her idea. "Do you mean he could feel like we can? Emotions and touching objects with his 'body'?"

"No, it's… hard to explain, he can feel like we do all the time but he says it's different…" The two men watched as Jodie turned her head to look at a seemingly random empty space next to her. "Aiden says that…it's almost like a map, you can tell a general area or direction but not exactly and it doesn't focus very long."

"Please Nathan…If it really could be someone like me, just let me help." Even to someone who distanced themselves and tried to avoid any feelings, such as compassion, with co-workers Nathan felt sadness as he looked at the desperation and despair on Jodie's face. "Please…"

 **ooo000ooo**

Max stood in her bedroom looking into the body- length mirror, looking herself over to make sure she looked fine and that she had everything for the day. Three months after moving to Seattle she had finally accepted that this was her life now, although getting a cell-phone and a laptop she could video chat Chloe on helped a lot.

The once Waif-Hipster teen had changed a lot over the three months and she was sure that it would take Chloe a while to recognize once either of them visited. After a month of believing she was going crazy and two months of training the shy, geek that left Arcadia Bay was no more.

The first month was the hardest and her parents had very nearly sent to her to a therapist after she began freaking out over things that happened around her. The most prominent in the beginning was the change in her writing, her ability to know everything that happens around her, even if she wasn't focusing.

After the first day of school more things started to happen and she had no explanation other than thinking she was crazy. At random time seemed to stop or rewind around her, not enough to send her into full blown panic as she was thrown days into the past, at most it was a few minutes.

She did the only logical thing she could, secluded herself in a library whenever she could, looking for books on time travel or just time itself. When that failed, she did find one useful book though, Max shifted to online forums under multiple accounts and posing supposedly 'theoretical' questions to the masses on the internet.

She hadn't stopped her questions on the forums by the second month but now she had some control over her powers and knew she wasn't crazy. She could stop her powers from acting up at all and she could feel the energy or whatever inside her, the stuff that let her control time.

She'd spent the second month in Seattle trying to figure out what she could do and what she couldn't do with her powers. Finding out what she could do was easy but knowing what she couldn't was difficult because of the fact she could just be trying something in the wrong manner.

Max could rewind time, freeze it completely or push herself into the future in the opposite manner. Rewinding time was the easiest thing to do while trying to move while she froze time was an absolute nightmare that gave her a bloody nose and a migraine that lasted well into the next day.

Jumping forwards in time wasn't difficult nor was it easy but not in the normal sense of easy and hard. She had to focus on how far she wanted to go and where she wanted to be when she went which made it a little bit of time travel and a little bit of teleportation.

One thing she wasn't sure she could do but was very unwilling to try was Time Travel through a photograph. She remembered how she felt on the first day of school when she looked at the picture of her and Chloe watching Blade Runner, how she could feel herself laying there with Chloe.

It was the two months in which she trained that Max had become jaded and uncaring for the world around her while she grew into her powers. Her parents had worried about it at first but when they saw she was still their loving daughter the worry washed away.

She spent more time alone than she used to, wrote a lot more in her diary and got a job in a tattoo parlour near her house. It couldn't be called a job because of legal reasons but she was there every day for a certain amount of time, she helped out and every two weeks the owner 'invested' a certain amount of money into the future of a bright young girl.

She didn't make thousands but she did make more than eight hundred a month most of the time and with the pocket money her parents gave her every month Max Caulfield had a lot of spending money and no one to share it with.

And that's why spent it on herself since nobody at school wanted to be friends with the crazy Emo girl. They'd called her that before she'd started wearing black so Max was honestly confused as to why they did, it made sense now but not before.

Her wardrobe change was sudden and very much unexpected but her parents didn't mind that she changed her mind on what kind and colour clothing she liked to wear. What they did mind though was the four piercing she got last month as well as the face tattoo she got without telling or asking them about it.

Ryan was somewhat calm when she'd come home with them all, the left side of her face wrapped in bandages with a layer of plastic underneath to protect the tattoo. Her mother on the other hand had been absolutely livid, yelling about how she shouldn't have done that and how Seattle had corrupted her baby.

From a place of somewhat justified anger and a need to make someone feel bad Max told Vanessa that it was her fault then. She was the one that had them move to Seattle when they could've stayed in Arcadia Bay with Joyce and Chloe.

As a growing teenager it should've felt good, made her felt better now that someone else felt some of the pain she had felt. The only problem was the it was her own mother that felt it and it made Max feel so much worse.

They'd both apologized and after a week Vanessa seemed to like Max's piercings and tattoo's, she couldn't really do much else. She did make Max swear to her that she wouldn't do something like that again without telling them and Max was forced to agree, she had no money to do it again anyway.

So here Max stood in her bedroom ready for School, the final product of one month's Madness, two months training with Time Travel and being able to talk to and see her best friend, even if they weren't in the same city.

Max had to crack a smile as she looked herself over once more, she had nine sets of the same exact outfit and she could happily say she didn't care. Other people, people who didn't matter, would say she was boring and predictable but she really liked her style and nobody could make her change it.

She had a sleeveless, blood red shirt on that curved down her upper body quite a bit but didn't show any cleavage, not that her B-Cup breasts had any. On the front of her shirt was the design of a snake wrapped around a cross shaped sword in a dull grey carbon colour.

She wore tight, black jeans that had to be rolled up around her ankles so they didn't get caught underneath her shoes as she walked. The jeans were half a size too small so while they curved around her bubble butt as well as emphasize it, she had to use what little she had after all.

She'd chosen black and white Converse Sneakers as part of her outfit, she really liked them because of the design on the sides of the shoes. It was a cartoonish skull motif with thick, orange sunglasses on with some background detail around it in dull, muted colours.

Even though she had changed a lot Max didn't want to lose her signature hoodie so she changed it, she now wore black jacket with a small hood. It covered enough of her face when she had it up that it cast a shadow over her eyes and nose but it was still slightly tight, not leaving a lot of space on either side of her head.

She'd swapped out her old grey and used messenger bag for a slightly slimmer black one with a carbon black strap. It didn't have as much space as her old bag but she made up for it by using one of the thinnest, but still powerful, laptops she could afford.

Max had also taken to wearing fingerless gloves as part of her outfit, they were the same black as her jacket and jeans. On top of each knuckle there was a hole that showed skin as well as a larger hole just above her wrist on the top of her hand.

She'd had her hair dyed a type of pitch black that glinted slightly when it caught light at the right angle and she had two strips of blood red hair in the front, leaning more to her left side and separated by a strip of black hair.

She had her ears pierced like almost every teenage girl in the world but not directly on her earlobe, she'd had it pierced slightly higher so whatever she wore wasn't too close to her neck. That was a good thing as the earrings she wore consisted of a small chain connected to the end that went through her ear while a blood red heart hung from the other end of it.

She had two ring piercing through her lower lip of the left side, she'd gotten them as close as possible without them being in the same hole. It had been a nightmare to eat for three weeks after getting it since every small touch on the rings caused her pain.

Her third piercing was on the bridge of her nose, as high as it could go. The curved barbell piercing was shorter than most since she didn't want it to inconvenience her eye sight and it hugged her nose slightly as it curved towards her face instead of away.

The second curved barbell that she had was not even half an inch underneath her left eye. When she got the other piercings she wasn't scared, she knew the people were professionals that knew what they were doing but since she could mostly see what they were doing it did scare her.

The final piercing that she had went underneath her eyebrow above her right eye, curving down towards her eye but not very far. She'd had them do this one last and by the time they got to it she was desensitized to the process of having a piercing near her eye, especially after the other one.

The tattoo she had sat nicely one the left side of her face, tying her entire Emo-Punk image together quite wonderfully. It consisted of sharp points, circular curves and the fact that the Tribal Tattoo was not one singular thing but rather four parts were place close to one another.

The final change to her appearance had actually been caused by Max's powers rather than the girl herself. Her eyes, while blue before were now a glowing cyan blue that seemed almost mystical and very nearly gave light in darkness when she used her powers. ( . )

Max smiled after she finished inspecting herself and looked at the clock on her bedside table, quickly rewinding the time she spent looking in the mirror. Grabbing her phone and wallet before slipping them into her pockets Max moved over to her desk to grab her Polaroid camera.

Her dad had gotten for her after she'd begun bringing home Straight A test results over the past two and a half months. Then her mother had bought her enough film for the camera to last her a good few months if she was responsible in using it.

She couldn't carry it all so as she clipped the camera onto the strap of her messenger bag Max grabbed three cases that were slightly bigger than poker card packs. She always carried around enough film for a week or more since, with her time powers, she didn't know how many photos she would take.

She clipped them onto the belt going through the loops of her jeans Max looked at the time again and turned to her door. Before she could take a step though her phone buzzed in her pocket and stopping her in her tracks as she pulled it out to see who wanted to talk with her this early in the morning.

 _Che: Hey Maxi-pad, face chat now. Wanna show you something hella awesome!_

Smiling Max threw all thought of school and breakfast out of her head when she saw the text from Chloe. Throughout the last three months she'd always been there for Chloe, even when she could've been crazy Max always had time for her friend and the girl especially needed that the past two weeks.

Max really couldn't blame her but she knew that it was really far too soon for Joyce to even think of dating anyone. Granted she wasn't dating the man per se but he was at the house a lot and did seem to become a fixture in the Price life.

Sitting at her desk she opened her computer, minimizing her web browser and torrent downloader before opening video chat. _'Wonder how Che will react when she sees me.'_ Max thought as she brushed part of her fringe away from her eyes as her computer quickly connected to Chloe's computer.

"Hey Super-Max! Check out my-my…" Chloe started off strong and excited about showing her, her short, neon blue hair to her best friend. She was quickly shocked into a stupor when she looked at the girl that was displayed on her laptop screen. "Holy shit Max, is that really you?"

"It's looks pretty cool doesn't it Che?" Max asked her with a cheeky grin while the Price girl continued to gawk at the Emo-Punk that was her friend. As she did that Max looked her friend over, happily surprised by her friends change in appearance.

It definitely wasn't as drastic as Max's but it was big, her long blond hair that usually flowed down her back was now replaced by shocking neon blue hair that was cut to different lengths in downwards spikes while an old, black beanie sat on her head keeping everything in its place.

"Hey, isn't that my Super-Max beanie? I thought I lost that when we moved." Chloe blushed slightly as she was broken from her stupor and lowered her head as she pulled the beanie downwards to hide her face. "It's cute Che, I think it's really nice that you'd wear it."

"Yeah well…It helps…a lot when we can't talk or text…helps with…you know…" The blue haired girl looked down at her lap while Max's smile slipped a little. "It's fuckin' messed up Max, Mom's hanging out with this military freak like Dad never existed and I can't hug my best friend."

Max's eyes hardened as her Bat-Max persona came out, she'd jokingly referred to her apathetic and calculating mind-set as that and now she couldn't stop. It really helped when she was faced with problems she tried to figure out without her time powers when she didn't want to use them.

She couldn't blame Joyce for hurting after William's death but the way Chloe told her about the woman's actions and her new 'friend'…Max had no sympathy for her. Chloe was drowning in an ocean of darkness and sadness while she did nothing to help and went off with this man.

It might not have been so bad had Max been there for her friend but she was may half a state away with no way to get to Chloe. And the way Chloe told her how this Madsen character acted around her and tried to order the girl around made Max's blood boil as her anger warped time around her.

"Hey chin up Wonder-Che, I know it's not much but I'm always here for you. If you really want I'll run all the way to the Bay just to hug you." She could see Chloe really perk up when she said that while a light blush spread on both of their cheeks.

"Y-you think you could… come back for the weekend?" Chloe looked deep into her friend's bright blue eyes with a tiny smile full of hope. Her eyes sparkled with happiness replied with a smile of her own and a firm nod of her head. "Super-Max and Wonder-Che together again."

"Hey I-uh…I gotta get to school, keep my grades up for my nerd friend y'know?" Max stuck her tongue out as Chloe teased her before they both smiled again. "I'll see you later Super-Max."

"See you later Wonder-Che." Max let Chloe end the call on her own time and the girl did so after maybe a minute of them looking at each other happily and sappy smiles on their faces. Max leaned back in her chair once the screen went black and she looked up at the bland ceiling of her room.

' _I'm hella gay.'_ Max thought to herself, unaware of the same thought going through her friend's head. Sitting up she opened her drawer and pulled out two A4 sized manila folders with different contents that were both equally important.

She'd looked into this David Madsen, with her growing computer skills, that Joyce was spending time with as she ignored her daughters suffering. Even before she compiled information on him she knew that he was a broken man trying to fit in where he didn't belong, no one but William deserved Chloe and Joyce but now Joyce didn't deserve William.

" **Bring Him To His Knees, Che. Maxine Caulfield."** She'd written it in bold, black marker on the front underneath the sending address and postage stamp. Inside was everything about David Madsen she could find, from his first job to his military record and being dishonourably discharged.

Placing it to the side with the intent of mailing it to Chloe on the way to school Max picked up the second folder, her expression softening. She'd had the idea to fill it with Polaroid pictures of herself all around Seattle and send it to Chloe so her friend could look at her every day.

It was extremely cheesy, she knew, but it honestly was all she could do from her current position. She could theoretically walk to Seattle using her rewind and time stopping power but she was scared her powers would take too big a toll on her before she even reached the halfway point.

She stood up and grabbed David's folder before leaving her room, saying goodbye to her parents and going out the front door. Picking up a light jog she went two blocks further than her school to reach the nearest post office and quickly stepped up to the counter, using her rewind to skip to the front.

"Morning." Max told the lady behind the counter as she placed the folders on the counter before pulling out a ten from her wallet. "Arcadia Bay please, express delivery."

Getting three dollars in change Max hurried back to school with ten minutes to spare before classes were set to start. Deciding to get her books for the first few lessons Max began walking towards her locker, more than a few giving her a wide berth and trying to stay as far away from her as possible.

"Caulfield!" Max spun around as fast as she could when she heard an angry voice yell her name, her loose hair hitting her face. She saw a boy approaching her, Logan something-or other, angrily stalking towards her as she stood still and when he was three feet from her he raised his clenched fist.

With a simple hardening of her eyes and a quick blink time completely froze as Max Caulfield looked at the football jock. With his face and body frozen his anger looked really pathetic and in truth the reason why he was angry was pathetic as well.

The boy was angry at Max because she'd told both the girls he was dating about the other and both of them had dumped him after school the day before. The child was angry that he had to face reality and deal with the consequences of his actions.

Curiosity gripped her before she looked around at the students in the hallway and what they had been doing when Logan advanced on her. Almost everyone around them were either sneering at her or smiling that she was about to get 'put in her place'.

Sneering back at the frozen people Max took her camera before looking through the lens and aiming it at the angry boy. One thing she'd found out was that freezing time and taking a picture gave the Polaroid some rather interesting effects that enhanced it in almost every possible manner.

The flash went off and Max walked around the hallway as she gently waved the film in the air even though it wasn't necessary for the development. She went past a few of the girls sneering or smiling and made a few alterations to their possessions of clothes, Bat-Max wasn't a very nice person to bullies after all.

She looked down at the photo of Logan and even though the subject was a horrid child the anger and hatred captured within the image was breath-taking. Max never liked admiring or complimenting her own work but sometimes she couldn't help but feel that quite possible no one could attain the level of Photography she could.

He was frozen in a half step, back foot just leaving the floor while his right fist extended towards the viewer. A look of hatred in his eyes with an ugly sneer on his face while the area behind him blurred slightly and dulled in colour while Logan was put into a sharper focus while the colours on and directly around him were enhanced.

Slipping it into her bag Max clipped the camera back onto her bag strap before she walked towards the angry child. Kicking his front foot enough to bruise it Max walked towards her locker and opened it before letting time flow again after wiping some sweat off of her forehead.

"AAGGH!" Logan's screamed was heard throughout the hallway as he stepped onto his front foot which Max had shifted enough that he would fall. Grabbing two books she had her locker closed and locked by the time his face hit the ground and the cracking of cartilage was heard.

There were whispers and gasps, maybe a few screams, from the students as Logan himself curled into a fetal position. He screamed a bit before the pain really hit and he covered his nose as it began bleeding quite a bit as he sobbed.

Deciding to complete the collection she'd just started with an ending picture Max froze time again and positioned her camera just right. She'd decided to lay down on her stomach to get it right and once she got the photo she walked towards her class and sat in her seat before deciding to let time go for the second time that day.

People ran past the doorway of the classroom while the whispers reached her ears two hallways away from the scene. Blocking out the noise Max looked at the second photo and knew she would've felt revolted if she took pleasure in the pain she caused but she only took pleasure in how she captured the emotions.

Just like before anything behind Logan was slightly blurred while dulling in colour but this time Logan himself also dulled in colour. He didn't blur out but the focus of the shot was the blood leaking from between his fingers and the small puddle beneath his head that stained some of his hair.

Hiding the only evidence that she had been a part of what happened Max pulled out her laptop and opened her digital diary. _'Need to back it up again soon, really don't want to lose any of this.'_ Max thought to herself before opening a new entry.

 _Bat-Max had to come out early today because of Jackass-Logan._

 _I understand what everyone around me is going through, side-effect of my brains evolution I suppose but I can't connect nor bring myself to really care about it. It seems so insignificant to me, squabbling over popularity and trying to do as many stupid things in as little time as possible._

 _At least I got two decent shots out of Logan's stupidity, if they wouldn't get me in trouble I'm sure I could send them to an Art Gallery to get some feedback. Alas, I shall have to settle for my landscape and crowd shots of Seattle…:(_

 _Chloe finally saw how much I changed this morning and I saw how she had dyed and cut her hair, the blue looked hella hot on her. God I'm fucked up, falling in love with my best friend when she's in so much pain and not being able to help her in a way that matters._

 _This weekend I'm gonna do my best to help her, get Chloe's mind off of Joyce and fucking Madsen. We'll definitely be visiting our old Treehouse in the forest, god we had so much fun there…_

"Put that away Max, class is starting." Mr. Williams told her and Max quickly closed the laptop before putting it away and grabbing a notebook. "Now in light of what happened earlier today we will be discussing distance, speed and time in reference to moving objects or vehicles."

 **ooo000ooo**

"Hey Max, wait up!" Max didn't stop walking when she heard someone yelling and running at her from behind but she did slow down a little and turn her head to look at who it was. Jamie Oliver's, one of the school cheerleaders and one of the two girls Logan had cheated on was running towards her.

"Hi Jamie, don't you have practice today? Thought cheerleading was a full-time commitment." The girl gave a small smile as she breathed deeply while walking next to the Emo-Punk of the school. "How're you doing after Logan…"

Jamie's head dropped slightly as Max trailed off with the rather obvious question. "I'm…it hurt yeah but I think it's good that you told me." Jamie admitted before looking up at Max. "Thank you, you didn't have to tell me but you did so yeah…thanks."

"No problem, I wouldn't want someone keeping something like that a secret from me. I'm sure it would've been a lot worse if I let it go on." Jamie nodded in agreement as she held her books to her chest, not knowing what to say now.

"If you…want to sit with me during lunch I wouldn't mind, it'll be a nice change of pace." As the words left Jamie's mouth Max looked her over, assessing her words and the girl's body language and she saw it was eerily similar to Chloe's.

The girl had been betrayed and hurt by someone she thought she could trust and now she was reaching out for the person that helped her. Albeit the help did hurt her but Jamie seemed to want Max to accept her despite that and all the whispering the others did at school.

"Sure, it'll be nice to corrupt you and bring you to the Dark Side." The girl looked mortified before seeing the smile on Max's face. "Don't worry Jamie, I don't know how you're feeling but I have a friend that's going through something similar. I'll be there for you."

The girl surprised Max by giving her a quick hug and a mumbled thank you before running the block they had walked back to school. Running her hand through her hair Max ignored it and walked the rest of the way home after having taken the day off from work today.

The house was silent as always when her parents were at work and she came home early. The only sounds were her keys hitting one another as she locked the door behind her and took her shoes off before turning to walk to her room with her shoes in hand.

Max nearly dropped them in shock when she saw her parents, a man in a lab coat, a man in a grey suit and a girl about her age all sitting in the living room. She was concerned with what could possibly going on but her eyes focused on the nervous looking girl sitting at the edge of the sofa.

Something was telling Max to be careful with not only the girl but something she could feel around the girl. "Mom, dad?" Vanessa and Ryan looked at their daughter with an expression she couldn't place. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"Well I'm afraid that all depends on you Max." The man in the suit said and she immediately hated him, he gave off the air of a sleazy politician. "My name is Nathan Dawkins and I work for the DPA, Department of Paranormal Activity."


	2. Chapter 2

**For What It's Worth**

 **A/N; Don't really know, this is a bit of a test chapter because I don't know how I should write everyone involved at this point. Review with what you think but if you like it I'll leave it as is.**

Even though she had changed a lot, even though she was Bat-Max, at this moment Max was scared of what was going to happen. This man, Nathan Dawkins, had just suddenly appeared with his friend Cole Freeman before telling the Caulfield family about Entities and Supernatural things.

Max had to use her powers several times after she freaked out or asked questions that raised their suspicions of her. Dozens of alarms bells were being set off in her mind and the biggest was the fact that her parents were just sitting there...listening and accepting what this man said.

They never asked him a question nor did they ask for proof or in any way seem to believe he was lying to them. _'How long have you been here?'_ Max thought in her mind as she stopped time again to scrutinize the man. _'What did you tell my parents? What do you want from us?'_

Another thing that was bothering Max was the girl sitting in a sofa chair, MAX'S Sofa Chair, doing nothing. She looked around occasionally and snuck glances at Max with some faint emotion in her eyes but Max put that in the back of her mind as she tried to figure out why she felt it in her bones that the girl was dangerous.

"…ile most Talents are a form of Natural Evolution Entities can bind themselves to a person, either accidentally or on purpose." Nathan's droning buzzed into Max's conscious listening before she forcibly shoved it back towards her subconscious listening, he was practically repeating himself at this point.

Entities were deformed and malevolent souls of the dead that weren't supposed to be here but from the way he spoke of them and them binding themselves to people Max knew that he knew someone in that exact situation or he'd seen them before.

And the other thing was these Talents he spoke of, even with her control over time the concept of an actual underground Super Society was baffling. They merely lived their lives in secret, using their powers whenever they could and staying away from anything that could get them in trouble.

She thought that it was good that they were monitored and kept track of instead of herding them all together like sheep that needed to be kept in a cage. But the way Nathan was looking at her as he talked now was very creepy and sent shivers up her spine.

Freezing time Max's brow furrowed slightly as she stood up and walked towards the kitchen, moving towards the fridge. She could still see them all as they sat in the living room, only a waist high wall separated the Living Room and the Kitchen here but she was never more thankful for that than at this moment.

She grabbed a bottle of water before slipping back into the Living Room side but she didn't go back to her chair. Max sat on the diving wall and looked at the girl and Cole again, she had to be the one Nathan was taking about, right?

The way she radiated an aura that told Max she was dangerous, the way she sat, shutting herself off from the conversation. She didn't even try to introduce herself when Max met Nathan and Cole, she only sat there stealing glances at Max every once in a while, like she was scared.

Max's eyes shifted to Cole as she opened the bottle and took a sip of the cold water, he was the only one Max trusted out of this lot. He was earnest, seemed honest to a fault and didn't look at her like she was a bomb or a freshly barbecued rack of lamb.

As Bat-Max she was slowly putting the pieces together, what they wanted, what they knew and why she felt that the girl was so dangerous. The way that Nathan went on and on about Entities and Talents showed that he knew someone from either category quite well.

Which meant that the girl had an Entity bound to her and Max could somehow sense and that was something that was beginning to scare her. She'd come to the conclusion that her body had just evolved for some reason to control time like Talents but now with Entities…

' _No, enough of that Max. Doesn't matter where your powers come from or what they say, they'll be gone in a bit and whatever they say doesn't matter.'_ She thought to herself as she closed her eyes and dropped her head so that her chin was touching her chest.

Max stayed like that for a few moments, swaying side to side as she sat on the diving wall while trying to clear her mind. _'They probably know that I have powers, they wouldn't be here otherwise.'_ The thought kept running circles in her mind, causing her no small amount of discomfort.

She opened her eyes and frowned as she saw some sort of black smoke floating down towards the ground before she raised her head to look in front of her. "AAAHH, Jesus Christ what is that!?" Max's shock and fear caused her power over time to come loose as she toppled backwards.

Her parents were terrified when they heard their daughter yell but were shocked the most when she wasn't sitting in between them anymore. They were faster than the other three though as they managed to get out of their seats and make it to the dividing wall before they did.

Nobody saw Max's back hit the ground but they did hear the impact it made as well as the several cracks of tension being relieved between her vertebrae. Max's parents saw her again as she crawled backwards towards the kitchen counters from behind the diving wall as if she was scrambling away from something.

"Aiden, stop!" The girl yelled as she tried to rush towards Max only for Cole to catch her before entering the kitchen when Max pulled out a rather sharp and deadly looking kitchen knife. "Stop!"

Max heard nothing other than the pounding of blood in her ears while she watched the thing in front of her. This had to be an Entity, she'd never seen anything like it and the way her parents were looking at her like she was crazy and seemed frightened by her told Max that they couldn't see the thing.

It was a large mass of black tentacles that seemed to writhe, shift and move at random around a soft of blobby central body. Most of the tentacles were obscured by the thick miasma of black smoke but a large white eye could be seen in the centre of the blob.

"Get it away from me, get that thing away!" Max screamed at Cole and the girl while she parents looked on, frightened to even step close to their daughter. "It's an Entity, isn't it?! You brought it with you now get it out! I don't want it here!"

Nathan Dawkins merely sat in his chair, not having moved an inch as he continued to watch the proceedings. He'd been shocked by Max's scream, the only movement other than a slight jump when he heard the scream was the turning of his head to watch what was happening.

"Max, calm down. Yes, we brought Aiden with us but he's not dangerous." Cole said as he held out a hand in a placating manner only for Max to switch to a back-hand grip with the knife she was holding. "He's a friend, he's been with Jodie ev…"

"You called it Aiden!" Max yelled at Jodie as several links formed in her mind but she made sure the Entity was still well within her vision. "Tell him to go away!"

Aiden, the Entity, stopped merely observing Max from a short distance when she brandished the knife at Jodie. He shot forwards and basically charged Max, knocking her upwards into the cupboards away the counter-tops of the kitchen before holding her in place with several tentacles as one worked to remove the knife from her hand.

"GAH!" It was the only sound that left Max's mouth as she hit the cupboards but her father screamed her name while her mother let out a horrified scream as she saw her daughter get hit by nothing and was currently being held up against the cupboards as if some invisible demon was holding her in place.

"Aiden, stop it! Let her go Aiden, stop it!" Jodie yelled at her Entity and struggled against Cole's arms as they held her back while Nathan continued to watch with unconcerned interest. "She's not going to hurt me Aiden, let her go."

As Jodie yelled at her Entity Max was struggling against the black tentacles, an icy rage spread from her chest towards the rest of her body. It burned so much worse than any fire ever could but she could feel how it was colder than what she imagined space to feel like while her eyes starting glowing like two small motes of cyan lights.

It became somewhat hard to breath as her muscles started contracting almost painfully as the cold continued unchallenged. Max threw all her strength into getting free when the Entity's eye looked at the girl and the burning cold reached its peak.

The arm holding the knife came free and Max attacked the Entity, striking a deep cut along it's blobby body. She was unaware that when she'd pulled her arm free that the tentacle that had previously been holding it shattered despite seemingly being made from liquid.

Max landed on her feet as the Entity dropped her and retreated to the far end of the kitchen while Jodie watched in silent shock as she and Vanessa had tears running down their faces. The Emo-Punk held the knife protectively in front of her as she gently held a hand to her chest, feeling a large bruise already forming.

"GET OUT!" She screamed at Aiden, taking note of the large cut but was puzzled by how parts of his blob body seemed frozen or made out of glass. Max bit her lip as the Icy Rage compelled her to attack, to kill the Entity before it could hurt her again while she vaguely heard Jodie telling him to leave.

It stared at her for a few tense seconds before it moved backwards and melted through the wall closest to it. Two seconds after it disappeared the Icy Rage moved with such speed back towards her chest that Max lost all her energy as her eyes lost their shine.

Her arms went slack as she fell forwards onto her knees and would've broken her nose on the floor if Ryan hadn't caught her. Her parents didn't take notice on the knife she had been holding shatter to pieces when it hit the floor, all they did was hug their child with Vanessa sobbing while Ryan held both of them tightly in his arms.

 **ooo000ooo**

' _God I wish you were here Che, I really need you right now.'_ It was maybe the second or third time Max had that particular thought as she sat on her bed an hour later looking at a Polaroid of her and Chloe making pancakes in the Price Kitchen.

Everyone had been shaken by what had happened in the kitchen and even though Max was the focus on the attack she'd fared a lot better than her parents. The bruise she had gotten from being rammed by the Entity covered maybe two thirds of her chest before going away completely in three minutes at the most.

' _Advanced Healing, Regeneration or does my body speed up time to heal itself?'_ She would've started typing in her diary to record her thoughts and theories with all the others she had but it was sitting in her bag next to her desk and Max didn't feel like moving from her spot at the moment.

Her mother and the Jodie girl seemed to get the worst of it, both of them had sobbed for at least half an hour for different reasons. Vanessa clearly cried because her daughter had been hurt by something the DPA people had brought while Jodie had cried because she was partially responsible for the attack on Max.

Her father on the other had been ready to kill Nathan and Cole for what had happened to his daughter. Probably the only reason Ryan hadn't taken a knife to the two of them was because his daughter was hurt and she had needed her father at that moment.

It had also occurred to Max a few minutes after the attack that she hadn't thought to rewind time, to undo the attack altogether. Even now she could go back and undo everything, an hour was barely anything for her fifteen hour Rewind Window but for some reason Max couldn't bring herself to do it.

And she had no idea what she had done in the fight, she knew her powers extended somewhat beyond Time Travel but that endless Icy Rage was something new. The Icy Rage had resonated with endless power within her, it was a power that thrilled and terrified her in equal measure.

Unfortunately, Max had literally squat on Entities and her new powers, less than she had when she researched for context on her Time Travel Powers. Adding to that was the fact that she had no idea how to call upon this power other than face imminent death or injury.

Her train of thought would've continued but she was interrupted by a knock on her door and gave a small smile when she saw it was her parents once Ryan opened the door. "Hey Max, how're you feeling?" He asked, once they sat next to her on the bed.

Well Vanessa sat right next to her daughter while Ryan sat behind his wife, both looking at Max with concern very clear in their eyes. "I-I'm okay thanks, don't even have a bruise." Max told them softly as her mother took her hand in her own. "Are they still here?"

"Yes sweetie…that's actually what we wanted to talk about Maxxie." Her mother said quietly as she looked at their joined hands. "Max, are they right? Do you really have powers like they said?"

Max lowered her head slightly and her eyes were drawn to the Polaroid that now lay on her left thigh. God, her parents wouldn't let her visit Chloe this weekend…Hell, they probably wouldn't let her walk to school anymore.

"Y-yea, I can…do stuff, I have powers." She told them in a soft voice that barely reached their ears as she refused to look at their faces. "I-I don't…know what I did downstairs but…but I can control time, y'know…go back in Time or just…stop it."

"I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just thought…thought you'd say I was crazy. I lost William and Chloe, I-I didn't want you two to leave me." A few tears ran down her cheeks before Vanessa pulled Max into a tight hug letting the girl bury her face against her mother's chest.

"Max, we're never going to leave you." Ryan told her as he placed a hand on her shoulder while she sniffled softly. "It doesn't matter what happens, we'll always be there for you."

It was nice sitting like that, being hugged by her mother while she could feel her father gentle grip on her shoulder giving her comfort. Max had them stay like that for a few more minutes before pulling back and cleaning her face as best she could with only her hands.

"So, what's going to happen now?" Max asked as she looked at her parents with slightly puffy eyes as she straightened some hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. "They're just going to leave and we won't have t…"

"It's not that simple Max." He cut his daughter off, hiding his cringe of pain as best he could as he was about to destroy his daughter's whole world…again. "Max, we…your mother and I talked with them and we think it would be best if you went with them."

And within that next half hour Max's life was shattered for a second time in less than half a year while the beautiful image of her parents was sundered to pieces. The image she had of her parents, the kind and loving guardians that had been carefully sculpted over the years was torn down bit by bit as they continued to talk.

Max couldn't even be angry at them as they talked while she protested, begged and pleaded for them not to send her away. And yet again the thought of using her powers never popped up as she slowly saw the people she thought were her parents turn into complete strangers.

' _I'm not dangerous, I'd never hurt them.'_ Max thought as she sat on her bed, knees pulled against her chest as she silently cried. _'They're scared of me aren't they, I'm their daughter. They shouldn't be scared of me. They promised they wouldn't leave me but they're sending me away.'_

To Max that was the worst part of this entire ordeal, that her parents would promise to always be there for her only to tell her that she had to leave maybe five minutes later. It was just like when William died only the pain was a thousand times worse because they were abandoning her willingly.

And so Max lay on her bed, quietly lamenting the cruel destruction of her life and the loss of the people she had believed were parents who loved her. Despite knowing she was going to be forced to leave tomorrow morning Max didn't do anything, couldn't do anything.

She couldn't video call Chloe and tell her what happened, her Best Friend had more than enough trouble to deal with on her own. She had no friends here that she could talk to and the people she would normally go to for help or comfort were the ones that caused this problem.

For the first time in her entire Life, Maxine Caulfield was well and truly alone as people abandoned her out of fear, as her best friend went through her own hell and as Fate laughed at what it had done to her.

 **ooo000ooo**

"Hey Che." Max mumbled loud enough as her computer screen was filled with Chloe Price on face chat with her. She let out a small smile when she saw her Best Friend and how she seemed somewhat happy today but it quickly disappeared. "I-I'm not gonna be able t-to make it this weekend."

"What-what do you mean Max?" Chloe asked, eyes wide with shock before she really looked at Max, dried tear tracks marred with freckled face while her eyes held only emptiness. "Max, have you been crying? What…what happened?"

"I-It's my parents Chloe, they're sending me…sending me away because I can do stuff." Unshed tears gathered in the corners of her eyes as Max talked. "They're scared of me Chloe and…and my parents d-don't want me anymore…"

"T-that's not possible Max…your parents would…would never…" The concept of Max's parents abandoning their daughter was blasphemy to Chloe, she knew they loved her but with Max's current appearance and the way she spoke, she had no choice but to accept it as truth. "G-God, that's fucked up."

"They're s-sending me with some government people, I don't know if I'll be able to call again Che." Max's heart broke a little as she saw the wounded look on Chloe's face. "I'm gonna d-do my best Che, I'm not gonna leave you behind and even if I can't call you I'll never forget my Best Friend."

"We can't let his happen Max, I-I can't lose you too." Tears began to roll down Chloe's cheeks as reality began to hit home with her. "You-You can run away, come back to Arcadia Bay! I'll take mom's car and meet you half way."

Max's heart clenched as she saw the hope appear in Chloe's eyes as she thought of the plan only for it to disappear just as quickly when she saw the look on her friends face. It really hit home with Chloe that she might not be able to talk with her best friend again, that this was really happening all over again.

"M-Max…" Chloe managed to mumble out as she reached her hand out to Max only to stop when she remembered that her Best Friend was only an image on her laptop. Despite that Max copied her action but didn't stop, instead she placed her fingers against the screen where Chloe's cheek was.

"You're not going to lose me Che, I'll always find a way back to you no matter what." She told her as Max saw Chloe put her own hand against the laptop on her end. "I d-don't know what's going to happen but…I-I jus…I Love you Che."

Max felt no shame, embarrassment or regret as she confessed to her Best Friend, a friend who she'd been forced to leave behind and could quite possibly never hear from again after today. She didn't care if Chloe didn't feel the same or if she didn't understand how Max loved her but the girl had to say it before she lost the chance completely.

"Max…what are you-Max...please don't…" Chloe was near to hysterics as tears flowed like rivers down her face while she choked out the words she wanted to say. "I can't…I need you Max…"

"It'll be okay Chloe…I'll always come back to you, no matter the cost…" Max lowered her hand onto the keyboard as she blinked away a few tears that blurred her vision. "I love you Chloe Price."

She hit the escape key on her keyboard a second later, not giving Chloe a chance to say anything or react as the call was ended. Max continued to cry silently as she closed her laptop before spinning it so she was looking at the back and pulled the battery from the device.

Max slowly fell in on herself, her upper body falling forwards as she felt her heart breaking until she could feel her chest pressing against her legs. She began to let out loud sobs, not caring who heard her as she cried for the Friend that she loved and how their lives had been destroyed.

In Arcadia Bay Chloe stared blankly at her mother's computer screen, not believing the blank video call boldly displaying the words, **Call Disconnected.** "Max, come on Max…this isn't funny…" Chloe kept pressing the button to call her friend only for it to instantly fail every time.

"MAX!" She yelled as she stood up, slamming her balled hands as hard as she could onto the top of her desk. "Come back Max! Please…I need you Max, don't leave me!"

She dropped to her knees as her cries of anguish became loud enough for the neighbours to hear while Chloe wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stop the pain of losing her friend as everything else came crashing down with a vengeance.

She cried for the death of her father, she cried for losing her Best Friend twice and she cried for how her mother had abandoned her in favour of Madsen. She didn't hear her mother burst into her room screaming her name but she didn't notice when the woman tried to embrace Chloe.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Chloe reacted very violently as she flung herself away from Joyce, nearly striking her with a fist, before crawling away and seething at the woman while David Madsen stood in the doorway to her room. "This is all your fault! I lost my dad and then you abandoned me for him!"

"And now Max is gone again, if you hadn't called him none of this would've happened!" David stood shocked, he'd wanted to say something in Joyce's defence but Chloe had cut him off while Joyce looked on the verge of tears herself. "Now Max is gone again, it's all your fault! All your fault."

David gently pulled Joyce from her daughter's room as Chloe curled into a ball as she lay on the floor as she continued to cry and sob while her tears stained the carpet beneath her head. She pulled Max's beanie off of her head before holding it tightly to her chest.

 **ooo000ooo**

An hour after the video call to Chloe, Max had regained enough of her composure to pack away the laptop and look around her now barren room for anything she had forgotten. After seeing that nothing was left for her to take Max picked up the laptop bag before leaving her room for the last time.

"I'm ready." Said monotonously once she was standing in front of Cole and Nathan who had been speaking to her parents. They looked like they wanted to talk with Ryan and Vanessa a bit more but the edge they saw in Max's gaze made them change their minds as they nodded before walking towards the front door.

Max followed them, not sparing her parents a glance as she walked past them and only turned to look at them once she was halfway out when she heard Vanessa call her name. She looked at the two adults, looking at her with sad and hopeful expressions, wishing to know that she didn't hate them.

She didn't need to use her powers to know what would hurt her parents the most, what would make them feel a mere fraction of the pain they had caused her. She levelled her best glare at them, pouring all her hatred and rage into it before turning away and closing the door behind her so that the quiet click of metal was barely heard.

She sat next to Jodie in the back of the black SUV they came in and Aiden let loose a low growl at the Time Traveller. "Stop it Aiden, your being cruel." It surprised Max and Jodie herself when she snapped at her Entity but Aiden nonetheless moved away and stayed silent. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be, you didn't want this to happen." Max whispered back as she rolled down the window slightly once the car began moving, the cool breeze was especially sharp against the wet tears tracks around her eyes and on her cheeks. "I'm not your friend but…I suppose I'm not your enemy either."

She nodded and looked down at her lap, knowing very well that was the best she would get out of Max for a long while. The roads were relatively empty at midday so they drove rather quickly, each passing building feeding the want for Max to use her Time Powers and just run, run back to Arcadia Bay.

But with each new building the want was also beaten down, reminding her that they could find her and force her to come with them. They'd told her about that PathFinder Machine they had and considering they were funded by the Government she could definitely see the FBI or CIA being sent to get her.

After making sure the Entity Aiden hadn't moved Max closed her eyes while a few more tears ran down her cheeks. She didn't know where they were going and if she was truly honest Max didn't care at this point, the pain in her heart was too much for her to care about anything.

The first leg of the journey to Max's new home was filled with uncomfortable silence as Nathan focused on driving while Cole and Jodie felt too uncomfortable to try and talk to one another while halfway through the first leg Max decided to entertain herself.

She looked at the passing landscape as they drive of a Highway, others cars either falling behind as they passed them or they speeding past them. Max blinked once and everything slowly moved backwards, there was a beauty in the way that everything moved in reverse.

How they moved back to their beginning and not towards their own inevitable end was truly poetic. It also provoked hopeful thoughts, her powers grew stronger as she trained herself in their use which meant one day she could possibly undo all of this, rewind time so much to prevent all of this from happening.

It boggled her mind to even consider that she might be able to rewind such a large quantity of time but Max could see it could be possible. Two months of self-training let her go from a two-minute rewind to fifteen hours but if she could understand how her powers truly worked she could change cumulative power growth into exponential growth.

"Wha?" Max was drawn from her thoughts by a growl and turned to see Aiden looking directly at her as he slowly moved towards Jodie. She blinked and let go of time as she watched the Entity, more questions and problems arising from seeing that her power didn't affect him.

Deciding not to test the Entity Max didn't use her powers for the rest of the trip and opened a tentative conversation with Jodie. The girl seemed surprised but thankful as the silence had become very, very uncomfortable for the sheltered girl.

They spoke about inane topics, normal life with a family and sheltered life in a secret government facility. Max looked on Nathan with new disdain and hatred as she heard about Jodie's life with the DPA, zero social contact with nothing resembling actual happiness or fun.

Jodie Holmes early childhood was easily completely fucked up and it was all because of the man driving the SUV. He'd restricted her to her room as much as he could, didn't try to form even a friendly connection with the girl or let her go outside, all her did was push her to develop her powers.

 **ooo000ooo**

"We thought it might be good for the two of you to live together since you are the only teenagers…here…" Cole trailed off awkwardly as he let Max and Jodie into the latter's 'House Room'. "We don't have any free rooms available so I'm afraid we can't move you anywhere bigger."

"It's fine, well get use to one another, won't we?" Max asked Jodie as she put down her bags in one corner and the girl nodded shyly as she gave Max the bags she had been carrying. "A second bed might be nice though, unless Jodie wants to really bond."

Jodie blushed bright red while Cole let off a soft chuckle at Max's joke once he saw her smirk. "So, do you mind if I ask what you can do Max?" he asked as he sat down on the couch when the Emo-Punk began herself dropped in a chair.

"Time is my Bitch." She told the scientist bluntly as she held her right hand in the air and examined it as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. "I can rewind time and… stuff about me changed. My writing changed and I know everything that happens around me even if I don't focus."

"I can…remember everything with startling clarity, I'd all but forgotten my fifth birthday but now I can remember every detail." Jodie had stopped moving things in her…their cupboard in shock while Cole was nearly gaping open-mouthed at her. "Everything from the feeling of the wrapping paper to the water from Chloe's water gun hitting the back of my head."

"Th-that's amazing…I've never heard of anything like that." Cole told her awestruck as Max now moved to help Jodie in the relocation of her clothing. "Even the most powerful Talents are nowhere close to that…Do you know if anything triggered your powers or…"

"It just happened." Her cold comment cut Cole off as his question brought up the second most painful memory she had. "Do you mind giving me time to settle in with Jodie?"

"Of course, sorry for being a bother." He told Max as he got up and moved towards the only exit. "For what it's worth Max, I am sorry for what you have to go through. Nothing can help or fix it but I owe you, big time."

"I suppose you do." Max tone and the blunt manner in which she said it seemed to make Cole uncomfortable as he just nodded his head before leaving, the door closing behind him. Silence reigned as neither Max nor Jodie tried to speak to the other as they moved things around.

It took a while to move Jodie's things to make room for Max's but they soon had most of Max's clothes packed away. Two of the four bags Max came in with were empty while the third only had three towels, her shampoo, conditioner, hair dye as well as her toothbrush and toothpaste.

Jodie watched as Max picked up the smallest bag she'd brought with, not counting the laptop bag, and moved back to the living area. The girl hadn't said anything to Jodie but the way she tried to put herself between Jodie and the bag as much as she could made it clear she shouldn't go near it.

She stayed near the kitchen counter as Max put the bag on the coffee table while she sat in front of it on the couch. Max slowly, almost reverently, zipped the bag open before flipping the top away to reveal the contents.

Jodie watched as Max pulled out an old Polaroid Camera, maybe two or three dozen black metal cases as wide a deck of playing cards but twice as thick. She was confused when Max pulled out more of the black cases but she saw white labels on the front of them.

"C-can I ask what those are?" The way Max's head turned made Jodie regret speaking but she relaxed when the Emo-Punk nodded towards the seat next to her. Jodie moved slowly as Aiden watched the two of them, waiting for the strange girl to try something.

"These…" Max said, holding up a case with the label saying **Landscapes** on the front. "Are Polaroid's that I took in Seattle, I never had friends there and I never tried to make any so I did what I loved. Photography always made me feel good, reminds me of…"

Max slowly trailed off as she placed the case back on the table before putting her hands on her lap. Jodie watched as the girls frame seemed to wilt in sadness before being replaced by barely restrained tension and anger.

She had a hand raised and wanted to put it on Max's shoulder but the minute shaking of the girl's body scared her too much to actually do it. A few minutes passed and the anger drained out of the thirteen-year-old girl who continued unpacking the rest of the labelled cases.

There weren't that many left so soon enough Jodie was helping Max place the cases on the bookshelf nearby. It was practically void of books since Jodie wasn't a fan of reading but even with the cases the bookshelf was still more than half empty.

"You like to read? Sorry, I don't have much." She said as Max pulled a particularly thick book off of the shelf before trailing a finger down the spine as she read the title. "There's not much to do here but I don't like reading."

"It's alright, readings just a habit I picked up a few months ago." Max told her as she placed the thick textbook back in its place. "We can order some online, get some colour back in your life."

Jodie was confused by what Max said but somehow it still struck a nerve in her, like what the girl was saying had a deeper and far reaching meaning. "Do you want to know what I see when I look at you Jodie, what I understand about your life?" The words were meant to be comforting but to Jodie they were more foreboding but she still nodded her head.

"This…" Max spread her arms out, gesturing to the room around them. "Is your entire world, you don't have the faintest clue about the world outside. You don't know about bands, celebrities. I don't even think you know what it feels like to stand on the beach."

"Your life is without colour, without real experience and it's all because of Nathan, isn't it?" It was posed as a question but Jodie knew Max wasn't asking but telling her. "I read a lot about Philosophy and Psychology a while ago, I had to abandon two friends that need me so I'm going to help you as much as I can."

Jodie didn't know what it meant to have a friend, she couldn't remember what it felt like to have someone that honestly cared for her. Ever since she came her she was kept to her room and treated with kid gloves, no love or happiness in the halls of the DPA.

 **ooo000ooo**

Four days, four days that tore at Chloe's heart every second and filled her with so much dread and emptiness. Ever since Max had ended that call life had stopped for one Chloe Price, the world was horrible, dull and without life and for her there was no reason to go on.

She'd stayed out of the house as much as possible without actually running away to get away from her mother. The only reason she hadn't run away or decided to just… … just say fuck it and end it all was because Max promised she'd call back no matter the cost.

Chloe had basically no faith in people anymore but no matter what she couldn't shake the warm feeling whenever she remembered Max's promise. No matter what when Maxine Caulfield made a promise to her Best Friend she always kept it, the cost didn't matter.

' _God, I need to give you a wash.'_ Chloe thought as she sat on a swing in the only children's park in Arcadia Bay while looking down at the Super-Max Beanie in her hands. She wore it all the time now just to remind herself that Max really was always with her and it was starting to smell a bit.

Everything thing she did now was because of Max, her entire life had revolved around Max when she was with Chloe and even after. Her life was ruled by the girl even now after she was gone, for the second time in the span of a few months.

Chloe only went to school and payed attention because Max would want her to, she wouldn't want her Best Friend to see her stop caring about school and Chloe really wouldn't Max to be disappointed in her.

She didn't…end it because Max was still out there, both of them just waiting for the other and the day they could be together once again. Sighing Chloe stood up and put the beanie on her head, moving it so that most of her hair was covered and only the side and back were seen while a few locks stuck out in front of her eyes.

' _Got a test to study for, we always said we'd go to Blackwall together didn't we?'_ She questioned silently as her feet slowly took her down the path to the house she lived in. Few cars drove past her as she walked at a sedate pace, trying her best to extend her time away from the house.

Eventually and inevitably she arrived at her destination but was surprised to see two large brown manila envelopes sitting in front of the door. Chloe walked inside after picking them up and closed the door behind her before dropping down onto a seat in the kitchen.

When she saw the words written in bold, black marker Chloe quickly picked them up again and rushed to her bedroom. Now sitting on her bed with the door locked Chloe looked at the first envelope and hoped she hadn't imagined what she read downstairs.

" **Bring Him To His Knees, Che. Maxine Caulfield."** It was still there, written in script that couldn't have possibly been Max's but somehow she knew it was, it just had to be. Opening the envelope Chloe pulled out what was nearly fifty pages of A4 paper before flipping through the first few.

' _God Max, I-fuck…your still looking out for me.'_ Tears of happiness made their trek down her cheeks as she read all the information Max had sent her on David Madsen. From what she knew of the man the first three pages alone could send him into a mumbling stupor. _'You are a hella Best Friend Caulfield.'_

Putting the pages back into the envelope and slipping it underneath her mattress before looking at the second one. Unlike the first one this envelope only had the mailing address on the front but unlike the first envelope this one was somewhat lumpy in places.

Sticking her hand in Chloe gripped multiple somethings before slowly pulling her hand out and felt her heart skip a beat when she saw what it was. There on top of the pile of Polaroid's was a Selfie of Max standing on a tall building in Seattle with the sun rising behind her.

Once again Chloe cried her heart out but this time it wasn't in pain or absolute sadness but hopes and happiness. She continued to look through the Polaroid's one by one as she cried but made certain that none of her tears would land on a Polaroid lest it ruin the item.

As Chloe continued to look at each and every Polaroid of Max or Seattle one fact was driven home with the force of a Gigaton Bomb. Max was the only one she could depend on, the only person who actually cared for her and would always come back and find a way no matter what.

 **ooo000ooo**

"H-Hey Max?" Jodie whispered softly as she lay on her side of the Queen-sized bed while her friend sat in a sofa chair nearby, her laptop sitting on her lap and the monitor light shining on her face and the wall behind her. "You…Ca-can I tell you something?"

"Course, you can tell me anything Jodie." Max told her as she put the laptop to sleep, her attempts at hacking the Cyber Noose so she could contact Chloe were getting her nowhere. She plugged the device in and slid it underneath the bed before getting in herself, laying on her side as she looked at Jodie.

"I-When my…guardians left me here…I-I let Aiden kill my dad." When she managed to get the words out Jodie closed her eyes and pulled her chin to her chest in an attempt to block the view of her face from Max while the girl looked at her sympathetically.

"Tell me what happened, from the beginning." A hand took her and held it gently as Jodie slowly opened her eyes to look at Max. After only a week Max was a pivotal part of Jodie's life and she trusted the girl far more than she trusted Cole and Nathan combined.

"A-alright, at home…before I came here my dad would get angry whenever Aiden did something…" Jodie's face scrunched up slightly in a pained expression that had some fear mixed in for good measure.

 **ooo000ooo Flashback – 2003; DPA Facility ooo000ooo**

Jodie sat on the large couch in what was to be her new room as she swung her legs back and forth as much as possible while the adults talked nearby. She didn't know what to feel at this point, she knew what was happening or at least going to but she didn't know how to feel or react to it.

Her dad never liked her that much and he was always so angry when Aiden did something because he was bored or wanted to show Jodie something. He'd nearly hit her when Aiden choked the boy who smashed snow into her face and made it very hard for her to breath.

Jodie looked up when out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother's jean-clad legs move towards her. "Hey Jodie, how're you doing?" Susan asked as she knelt down in front of the eight-year-old who said nothing in return. "Everything's going to be alright."

"Your father and I are going somewhere else okay. You're going to have to stay here for a while but we'll come back." Jodie gave a small nod of her head while Aiden floated behind the blond woman. "It's going to take a while for us to get settled so you'll stay with Nathan and Cole alright?"

"Come on Susan, we need to go." Phillip bluntly interrupted as he stood near the door while trying his best not to just leave. "It's going to take a long time to get there an…"

"Just give me a minute." Susan snapped at her husband before taking one of Jodie's small hands in hers. "We'll be back, I promise." She planted a small kiss on her forehead before hugging her daughter tightly.

Eventually she let go and stood up before walking towards the door that Phillip was already halfway through. He didn't even look back at Jodie or even pause for a second but Jodie wasn't looking at him, she was looking at Aiden.

Morbid curiosity filled her as she watched his tentacles writhe frantically while Jodie could feel his rage before he shot forwards. "Oh my god, PHILLIP!" Susan yelled when her husband was knocked to the floor and began choking as Aiden's tentacles circled around his throat and tightened.

"Someone do something, help!" The sound of her screaming and Phillip's choking filled the room in equal measure as Cole knelt beside the man while Nathan seemed panic and didn't know what to do at the moment.

"Jodie, make him stop. Tell Aiden to stop it!" Nathan yelled as he knelt before the girl that was now standing as she looked at the scene. "Jodie please, you don't want this. Tell Aiden to stop it now."

Even years later Jodie wouldn't know where the words came from, didn't know how she knew to say them. "He wouldn't stop if it was me." The monotone voice and blank face the statement accompanied left Nathan shell-shocked.

He could only gape at the young girl as Cole became desperate and tried to grab Aiden tentacles around Phillip's throat. Aiden could see the man's hand go through them and tightened them as quickly as possible before a snapped silenced everyone, only then did he let go of the man.

Susan was kneeling next to the corpse of her husband, tears streaming down her face as she looked at him in shock and horror. Cole wasn't much better as he looked at the body, unable to believe he just witnessed a little girl let her father be killed by her own Entity.

Eventually Nathan and Cole collected themselves enough to take Susan out the room and the body with them, leaving Jodie alone in her new room with Aiden. Jodie nodded her head as Aiden grumbled something to her, her small and fragile mind unable to come up with a response or emotion at the moment.

 **ooo000ooo Present – 2008; DPA Facility ooo000ooo**

Max tuned out Jodie's rambling as the girl had unshed tears brimming in the corners of her eyes as she continued to talk. She'd begun repeating herself when Max put her hand on Jodie's cheek, making the girl still as she looked at Max with wide eyes that did nothing to hide the fear and hope held in them.

Her other arm came up before they both wrapped around the girl, pulling her closer and into a hug as they lay on the bed. Jodie held onto Max as if she was the only thing that could save her from her own self-loathing and sadness, something that at this point was very, very possible.

She had her head buried into the crook of Max's neck and her tears slowly created a wet mark on the shirt Max was wearing. _'I just seem to attract or create broken people don't I.'_ Max signed internally as she rubbed small circles on Jodie's back. _"Least I can help them.'_

"Did you want him dead?" It was a horrible question and Max felt her heart pull when Jodie slowly nodded. "Then what's done is done. No father should get angry or try to hit their own child because of something they can't control, he deserved what he got."

Her comforting tone and soft voice gave Jodie some small measure of assurance and a tiny reprieve despite the words they delivered. It was only after half an hour that Jodie's crying tapered off and she fell asleep but not before her mind had been shifted slightly by Max's presence and her help.

Max repositioned her body so that she was sitting with her back against the headboard while Jodie's head rested in her lap. She ran her fingers through Jodie's hair the way Chloe did after their tickle matches, it always felt so good when the now blue-haired punk did that.

"I don't understand what you say." Max said after Aiden grumbled at her for the second time and looked at the Entity floating near the bed. He'd done this a few times the day before, trying to talk to her when Jodie couldn't hear him and Max thought it was nice.

They were at opposite ends the week before, nearly enemies after their skirmish in the kitchen but now they were not-quite-friends. The fact that Max was potentially half-Entity seemed to help as they felt some sort of bond connecting the two or telling them they were the same.

He grumbled again and Max could almost pretend she understood what he meant, as if she had heard him speak words instead of noises. She tilted her head as she continued to look at Aiden before closing her eyes and smiling slightly.

It was just like the fantasy her and Chloe had dreamed up when they were children. They'd get cool powers and have awesome friends that helped them. But it wasn't, she was locked away, abandoned and had powers that caused her life to be thrown away for a second time.


	3. Chapter 3

**To Deal With The World**

' _They'll just find you again, drag you back here.'_ Max thought to herself as she stood in the entrance foyer of the DPA Facility while thoughts of escape ran through her head again. _'You know where you'll run and then you'll put her in trouble.'_

She'd been here four times this month and more than ten times the month before that, contemplating escape each time. Escaping from this place would be so easy with her powers and nobody would be able to stop her, she'd be able to leave and go wherever she wanted.

There were very few reasons she didn't escape and stayed here and she couldn't do much to get rid of those reasons. The biggest reason was because of the stupid PathFinder Machine that could sense her and pinpoint her location no matter where she went.

Max wanted so badly to destroy the damn thing but she had no idea where it was and no way to find out or get to it. Nathan and Cole never spoke about it and Jodie didn't want to tell Max in case it got both of them in trouble, plus she didn't want her only friend to leave.

That was the second reason she stayed, for Jodie. The extremely sheltered girl now held onto Max like a literal lifeline and Max knew that if she left Jodie would be far worse off than Chloe was when she had to leave Arcadia Bay.

Max had considered the idea of bringing Jodie with her but that kind of life was worse than the one they had now. Having no home, constantly on the run from the DPA and possibly the government while always having to look over their shoulder.

It was no way to live for anyone their age, especially Jodie with the way her parents and Nathan had raised her. Max could always try for a few days just to see what happened and if it went wrong just rewind, it would be easy since she could rewind four days now.

She'd be out cold for a few hours after the rewind and unable to use her powers for a few hours after that but she could try. Every time she paused or rewound time recently the urge had always been there, to just go and try but every time something held her back.

Sighing Max turned around and began the somewhat long walk to her and Jodie's shared apartment room as other thoughts went through her mind. More than a few of those thoughts were about a Doctor's diagnosis of her being either Bi-Polar or an extremely warped Dissociative Identity Disorder.

 **ooo000ooo Flashback – 2008; DPA Facility ooo000ooo**

Jodie sat on the couch with Max in their shared apartment while the latter leaned against Jodie with her head resting on the girl's shoulder. It wasn't so much as Jodie was comforting Max but more like Jodie was whispering what Aiden heard the Doctor say to Nathan and Cole.

Cole wanted Max in the room when the Doctor told them the results of his examination but Nathan had been against it so the three sat in the control room next door. It was a very short distance so Max had Jodie send Aiden after them and had the girl enter what they called a Possession Trance.

Jodie's body was supporting Max's head just as much as Max was supporting the girls semi-limp body. Her eyes had turned a demonic cream colour with a thin black ring inside while Max knew that Jodie's head had to be pounding.

Max had Jodie slip in and out of the Trance so the girl didn't put too much strain on herself as she hadn't practiced the Trance much. And it didn't matter much if they missed something important as Cole would probably fill them in later.

"Dumbass." Max whispered as Jodie whispered the first thing the Doctor told Nathan was that he couldn't tell them exactly what Max had since he wasn't a Psychologist or a Psychiatrist. "You'd think some government big shot would get the right Doctor."

Jodie had to suppress her giggle as she spoke quickly to keep up with what they said in the other room. It was difficult since she was giving Max context as to who said what which meant she had to say their names first and then what Aiden heard them say.

After Max got the gist of what they were saying about her in the Control Room she gave Jodie a small pat on her other shoulder. She continued to support the other girl as Jodie slowly came out of the trance while Aiden came back into the room.

"You okay?" Max asked softly as Jodie moaned and reached a hand to massage her forehead once her eyes returned to normal. She only gave another moan so Max moved the girl until she was laying on her side and Jodie's head was resting in her lap.

"There we go, it'll be better in a few minutes." She whispered while running her fingers through Jodie's hair, something the girl seemed to like as she nuzzled into Max's lap. _'God I wish this was Chloe, I miss you Che.'_

Max made sure to wipe away the tear that left her eye before Jodie opened her eyes but she knew Aiden was watching her. The Entity had begun to regard her with curiosity and something that could resemble some sort of tolerance.

 **ooo000ooo Present – 2008; DPA Facility ooo000ooo**

Max had reached the room by the time she'd finished reminiscing about the Doctor's visit and the subsequent Psychiatric visits. Opening the door she moved into the Control Room and looked to her left, she saw Cole sitting at one of the computers.

' _I suppose you do.'_ Her own words echoed in her mind and Max bolted through the other door, time still standing still for all but her. She ignored Aiden as she grabbed a piece of paper and a pen before sitting down at the desk in her and Jodie's bedroom.

The Entity in the room floated over to Max as she wrote the first line of the letter before hitting a wall. Aiden watched the girls face as it went through a range of emotions while her hand that held the pen remained unmoving.

Aiden nearly flew backwards when Max's hand shot to the other side of the page and she began writing like her life depended on it. He watched for a few minutes as she filled half the page before noticing that she was crying and decided to move back to his frozen person.

Max herself was too busy writing to notice the tears running down her face, to absorbed in trying to write down everything she felt. All the loneliness of the past two months, the pain of being away from Chloe and the past eight years of Love she didn't know she had for her friend before they were separated.

Once she was done Max put the piece of paper aside before grabbing a clean piece and starting again. This time when she began writing Max's hand moved slowly, her pen strokes clear, concise and missing the rush and need to write as much as possible that was there the first time.

The first half of the letter was filled with heartfelt apologies and her own stories of what pain she went through the past two months. The rush may not have been there but her words had the same raw emotion they had the first time and tears continued to stream down Max's face but this time she had a tiny smile filled with hope.

In the second half of the letter Max wrote how she missed Chloe and what had happened in the past two months, where she was and what she had been doing. She didn't care one bit about government secrecy or the fact that she could get sent to jail, she had to tell Chloe everything.

After half an hour Max folded the letter and sat there as time remained frozen around her, not even the smallest mote of dust able to move. She wiped her sleeve over her face in a half-hearted attempt to clean her face before leaning back in her chair with a sigh.

It was another ten minutes before Max got up and grabbed the three-page letter she'd written to her Best Friend. She was about go back into the Control Room but stopped when she glanced at the bookshelf with all her Polaroid Equipment.

Max grabbed her camera and dropped down onto the couch as she brushed her hair out of her face, missing a few strands that stuck because of her tears earlier. Not a photo taken for two months and yet when she raised the Polaroid camera to take photo it all took hold.

She held it the perfect distance to get as much of herself in the shot while she angled her arm so that it wouldn't be seen. The flash was extra harsh on her eyes but Max quickly blinked it away as she grabbed the photo once it presented itself.

"Hey Max, where were you?" Max ignored Jodie as she gently waved the photo after letting go of time before rewinding once the photo had developed. After taking an appreciative look at it Max slipped the photo into the fold of the innermost page of the letter before standing up and going into the Control Room.

"Jesus Christ!" Cole nearly screamed when Max slammed her open hand onto the desk in front of him and looked directly into his eyes with her face only a foot away. It was clear to him that she'd used her Time Travel powers to appear in front of him but his near heart attack was his main focus at this point.

"You owe me." Max told the man as he clutched his heart and let out a soft 'What?'. Shaking her head Max held up her folded letter so he could see it and she nearly tried to punch him when he focused more on his heart than her letter. "You. Owe Me."

"I…" He quickly rethought what he was about to say when he really looked at Max and saw the anger in her eyes and the tear tracks all over her face. Cole thought very carefully as he watched the 5" girl that possessed the power of a God. "I…I suppose I do."

All the anger fled her eyes and Max lowered her head a bit with a mumbled thank you but it shot back up when Cole reached for the letter. Her hand had pulled it back and the anger was back in her eyes tenfold now causing him to fear for his life a great deal.

"Nobody knows about this letter. Nobody reads this letter and nobody knows who it's going to…understand?" It took a great deal for Cole to nod his head and not shiver in fear at the thirteen-old girl in front of him. "Anyone asks about a letter or my friend and you won't exist."

With her threat made clear Max lowered the letter into Cole's hand as she let her anger go, only a miniscule amount remaining in her eyes. "You use your name and home address, no P.O. Box." Cole only nodded as he took the letter.

"Any letter I give you goes to Arcadia Bay, Price Household. We're Government, we can give Postal Service specific instructions, right?" Max sighed happily when Cole nodded his head and he seemed to relax slightly when she did so. "Whoever delivers this letter, it goes in the hand of Chloe Price."

"I-I understand…" Cole said slowly as Max took a step back before crossing her left arm across her abdomen and holding her elbow with her hand. He moved in his seat as Max looked down at the ground. "I get it Max… I understand w-why you were like that."

"Thanks." Max said as she looked up at him and this time he didn't see any anger but solid determination. "She means a hella lot to me, I love her… I-I might need some…other stuff later on, might be difficult."

"Anything for you and Jodie Max. It's the least I can do since we're basically taking your lives away." Despite not wanting to seem rude Max could only nod her head as Cole placed the letter into a pocket on the inside of his lab coat. "Anything you two need."

With a final nod of her head Max froze time before going the Living room and dropping down onto the couch. Cole himself only blinked when Max disappeared before he turned to the computer monitors and set them to standby.

After checking that the letter was still in the pocket he put it in Cole stood up and left the control room. He was happy at work for the first time in years, he could finally fight back against Nathan's rules and help Jodie and Max.

"Hey Max, are you alright?" The Emo-Punk tilted her head to the right and looked at her friend with half-lidded eyes. She made no attempt to move away or wipe away the evidence that showed she'd been crying when Jodie sat down next to her. "What happened?"

"Nothing Jodie, just some stuff…" Max told the girl ambiguously as she leaned to the side before letting herself fall the rest of the way and made sure her head landed on Jodie's lap. "I'm still a little sad and scared but I'll be okay…eventually."

 **ooo000ooo**

"Alright Max, we don't have any equipment to measure your power so we…" Cole was at a loss for words as he stood in front of the girl with some equipment on the table while they were in what had been retrofitted and designated as her training room. "What are you thinking about?"

It was a fine line that Max always treaded whenever someone was talking or she was in a tutoring session with Jodie. She seems to unconsciously slip between actively focusing and passively focusing while she focused on something else.

Jodie had been the first one to spot the difference between the two and Cole followed soon after but Nathan was oblivious. It wasn't that he couldn't spot the difference but rather Max held so much disdain and hatred for him that she was always watching, always focused whenever he was in the room.

"Have you ever smoked?" Cole was completely blindsided by the topic and looked at the girl in utter confusion for what had to have been the seventh time that month. "I don't mean Weed… Well…I guess I mean Weed or Cigarettes? Have you?"

"Not recently if that's what you mean but back in College, sure." Cole sat down on the table as he spoke and shrugged his shoulder while Max gestured for him to go on. "I smoked Cigarettes through most of College and a few years after that but once the DPA picked me up I had to quit."

"Uh, weed. A couple of my friends had a few get togethers in our dorm and…" He trailed off and cleared his throat but Max gave him a look that clearly said he wasn't getting out of this. "I tried it, I wasn't the biggest fan but it relaxes the hell out of you."

"But I wouldn't recommend you try it Max, we both know that it won't affect your powers but another…" At this point Cole just stopped and was attempting to find the right words to describe what he was trying to say.

A sensitive subject that only Jodie and Max were safely allowed to broach with each other when they were alone. Cole was allowed to if it was serious but Nathan had only tried to talk about it once and the tone in which he spoke earned him a broken nose.

"You're afraid another Max is going to come out and I'd do some bad stuff. Afraid that it'll be different from the others and people will die." The way Cole closed down on himself showed Max that she hit it on the head and he was afraid at that moment.

She'd been classed as having an Altered Dissociative Disorder where she didn't change 'people' but she changed. They thought that it began when she got to the DPA but Max knew it started ever since she got her powers four months ago.

They only knew about two of the 'Other' Max's and even though Max was aware that there were five of her she knew that there could definitely be more. She'd probably know about more if she had a life outside in the real world but unfortunately for her she'd have to be surprised by them.

"So…right, we can't really measure your Time Travel power so we decided to just give you a stop watch." He said before throwing the black time piece at her. "We know you can stop and rewind time so I've come up with some exercises to tax you and see how far you can go."

And so, it began, an entire day was dedicated to the exercises Cole had come up with to push the limits of Max's powers. Even though what Cole came up with didn't push her even slightly Max was impressed by his intelligence considering her knew next to nothing about her brand of Time Travel.

He had Max hold Time still starting at one hour and adding one extra hour each time she came out of it and gave him the stop watch. He'd pushed her to the point of five hours and decided he was barely comfortable with her going that long defying a Universal Law.

Their conversations had started to repeat themselves once he moved her onto his Rewind exercises which took a LONG time. Both of them had to wait and kill time until Max could rewind a certain number of hours for the activity.

Halfway through the first hour of waiting Cole had decided to get to know Max and the girl seemed to be willing to learn about Cole. After the first two rewinds and repeating conversations Max had asked the man to teach her and while he seemed surprised Cole wasn't unwilling to do so.

And so, for the next repeating five hours Max had Cole teach her about any subject he knew with a focus on Physics and Biology influenced topics. Near the end Max had begun to feel bad for using her new semi-friend and wiping his knowledge with her rewind.

After the last rewind Max stayed with him even when she could've left and gone to get the sleep she desperately needed after her new record of a forty-four-hour day. He'd seemed to appreciate that and told the girl about his family, something he hadn't done the other times.

"Hey Max, I owe you." Cole told her as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a white and sealed envelope from his inside pocket. Max took it from him with a trembling hand and placed slipped it halfway into the back of her pants before making sure her shirt covered it.

When she looked at him again the man pointed to one of the camera's in the room and make a backwards rolling motion with his hands. Nodding her head Max blinked and she carefully watched her friend as he moved in reverse while she walked to the door.

"Hey Max, I owe you." There was no change in his tone, no indication that he knew he no longer had the letter as his hand began its journey to an empty pocket. He stopped before it moved more than a few inches when he saw her opening the door five feet from where she was standing before.

"I suppose you do." A small smile told him how thankful she was before he saw her disappear from the doorway. Whether or not the girl knew it Cole was with her and Jodie all the way, even if it meant death he was going to stand with them till the end.

 **ooo000ooo**

Max nearly couldn't believe, almost couldn't believe the handwriting on the face of the envelope that made up Cole's name and address. She hadn't seen it in so long, it might've become slightly harder and edged from the owner's experiences but there was no mistaking it.

Max took the knife that was laying on her bedside table and cut through the glue holding the envelope closed. Her hand trembled as she pulled the actual letter out and treated it with an almost godlike reverence while dropping the letter onto her lap.

She stifled a gasp and covered her mouth with her hand when she saw the first line, her grip on time faltering enough to make her rewind. With the camera footage wiped from existence Max gently held the letter with both hands and began reading.

 **Dear Max**

 **I don't know if this is real or if some jackass is playing a sick joke on me but I hella hope that the letter really was from you. The photo made it feel fucking real but** **I shit** **, I really fucking hope this is you Max, that you really found a way like you promised.**

 **Either way, it's my turn to 'talk' I guess. Before everything a month seemed so short, nothing big could happen in a month but god Max, everything's changing. I really don't know if I can tell write it down but I'm gonna hella try for you.**

 **After the second time you** **left** **were taken things just got worse around the house and it's all Joyce's fault. Madsen's practically already moved in thanks to her and it's fucking disgusting Max, I've found his fucking undies twice now and he's come into my room while I was changing three times.**

 **He's a fucking perv Max and he'd probably have already done something if you didn't send me that shit on him. After the first time I wanted to fucking nail him with everything, take him down and break him but I know… I've changed a bit, still Chloe but I can wait now, take things slow.**

 **You'd be proud of what I've been doing, I push a bit whenever he's around and I can see him cracking, he's scared of what I know Max. And it's all thanks to you, my Best Friend that I can't even see or hug and say thank you.**

 **School's gone to shit but I can handle that and the idiots in my class, dumbasses that think I'm a fucking pussy because you left. I got in trouble for breaking Prescott's nose but they learned to leave me alone now.**

 **My grades have gone up and I've started reading ahead in some of my classes, not much else to do without you around Super-Max. I'll make you proud of me Caulfield, you beat my grades last year but I'll show you that you need to catch up.**

 **I don't even know what to say about the other stuff in the letter Max but that… it's like some fucked up movie shit. They shouldn't be able to do that Max, just because you can do shit doesn't mean they can lock you away with some other chick that has a ghost following her.**

 **Even if I could help get you out I wouldn't know where to start Max, there's too much shit and everything's so confusing. It might be like your locked in prison but I guess that as long as your safe we can figure out everything over time.**

 **I want you to know Max that you never have to apologize to me, you're my hella Best friend and I love you. Never apologize to me ever again, doesn't matter what.**

 **Love You Maxine,**

 **Chloe Price.**

Max wanted nothing more than to curl up and hug the letter to her chest while she cried happy tears for the first time in a long time. She knew her control would slip and she wouldn't get it back for a few days if she did that so Max settled for letting herself laugh and cry for a few minutes.

' _She loves me, she hella loves me.'_ Max could've survived for years of isolation on that single thought alone. The fact that the girl she loved, had already loved for years loved her back nearly filled her to bursting with happiness that physically pained her as it swelled inside her chest.

 **ooo000ooo**

"WHAT!?" Chloe yelled as she stood up and caused the chair she had been sitting on to fall back onto the ground with a metallic thud. Joyce and David sat across from her and their entwined hands sickened the bluenette to her core. "You can't be serious? This is fucking crazy!"

"Chloe language-" Joyce wanted to try and explain things to her daughter and get her to calm down but Chloe was unfortunately having none of it. She didn't let the woman get any further as she slammed her fists on the table, effectively scaring and shocking her mother into silence.

"Calm down, how can I fucking calm down when you're getting married to Solder Freak!?" She would've been a lot cruder in the way she referred to David but her creativity took a back seat as her anger drove onwards. "How can you do this to me!? How can you do this to my father, to William!?"

Tears welled up in the corners of Chloe's eyes as she yelled while one of her biggest fears came to pass. She knew that it might happen eventually but the girl always held onto the hope that Joyce would kick David out and failing that, at least wait two years before getting married to the asshole.

Chloe had thought Joyce could fall no lower in her eyes when David moved in two months ago but now, barely a year after William had died Joyce was disgracing the man. Getting married to a man she'd only known for a year and practically hooked up with right after her husband's funeral.

The anger that was welling up in Chloe was a burning fire that consumed her very being, filling her with a burning hatred right to the tips of her fingers. She needed to get out, to leave and find something to hit before she decided the two people in front of her were decent enough targets.

"Now you listen here…" David stood up as he began speaking, he nearly faltered when he saw the hatred and anger in Chloe's eyes but tried to continue only to be interrupted by the girl as she pointed at him while leaning forwards.

"September of Ninety-Five, you left him to die by the side of a river." Chloe's statement caused David to lose nearly all the colour in his face. "You didn't even try to help him and you let your friend die. His wife died from Breast Cancer three months later and his child got abused in three different foster homes."

"You destroyed his family and let your friend die all because you didn't want to try and help him, he reached out and you let him fall, now you've managed to destroy my family." The man had broken out into a cold sweat while Joyce looked like she wanted to interrupt but didn't. "What makes you think you deserve even a shred of happiness you Bastard?"

With her part said Chloe moved to the front door of the home as David began shaking and left before anything else could be said. The girl slipped her thick, winter jacket on and zip it up before slinging the band of her messenger bag over her hand and shifting it until it was resting comfortably on her shoulder.

She adjusted her Super-Max beanie so that her ears were covered completely before she began walking. Chloe had no destination in mind, her feet were on auto-pilot as she became trapped inside her head with her own thoughts.

' _I shouldn't have said that, he'll become mad eventually.'_ Her main thought was her safety in the house now. It was the one of the biggest pieces of blackmail and information she had on the man and she'd basically thrown it away. _'All that other shit in the file…he'll beat me if I go back.'_

And that was a truly chilling thought, the threat of being grounded and yelling was always present in the house but getting hit was never there. The girl knew that the War Veteran would snap back after a few days and worse than ever, the question wasn't if she would be beaten but rather when and where.

' _Joyce probably won't help, he'd probably do it when she isn't at home…she'd be no help even if she did do something.'_ Grinding her teeth together Chloe turned a corner and bumped into someone before she continued walking without even looking up and apologizing.

Rapid fire thoughts of what she could do now were filling her head to the brim as she idly pocketed the wallet and I.D. book she'd pickpocketed from the person. Although she was preoccupied the adept Pickpocket knew he'd discover the theft eventually and she quickened her pace, going for the only Library in town.

The half a mile walk was long enough that her thoughts scared her enough that she'd been forced to stuff her hands in her pockets once they'd started shaking. She'd also quickened her pace once more snow started to fall at a quicker pace, already she had to lift her feet higher to step over the snow that had piled up.

' _Fuck, that's just great.'_ Chloe's anger quickly spiked again as she looked at the locked doors of the library and the closed sign stuck to the glass window. The black lettering on a white background taunted her, denying her access to one of her few haunts in the shithole town.

"Whatever…not like anything good is going to happen anyway." Her mumbling caused her hot breath to form visible vapour that clouded her vision for a moment. She turned and began walking down the sidewalk with no real destination, the only thought that she shouldn't stop and wallow outside in the freezing snow.

She'd probably been walking around the same two blocks for the past half hour, the snow level going from two inches to nearly a foot in that time. The bluenette had barely seen anyone while she trudged through the snow, most people were at home with their families eating dinner.

Chloe slumped her shoulders slightly and folded in on herself as she saw a group of three guys walking in her direction as she walked past some fighting studio. They were chatting and one had a bottle covered in brown paper so they might be drunk but she had nowhere to go without attracting their attention.

"Hey, lookie who's here!?" Chloe grabbed the top of her messenger bag when she heard one of them yell out. Her legs were already tensed to run when she looked up and matched the voice to a face, it was one of the Football dumbass from the school.

They kept talking, probably saying smack about her but Chloe didn't listen, she watched them, waiting to see what they would do. These three always seemed to go out of their way to find Chloe and try to bully her, it usually didn't work since she would leave or would beat them if they got physical.

"What'cha hiding there Price?" The one with the bottle asked as they moved closer, interested in her messenger bag now. "You wouldn't happen te have any good stuff would'ya? It's not nice to keep it ta yerself Price, you need to share with the class."

"Fuck you asshole, I ain't got shit." Chloe spat out as she turned around and attempted to walk away from them only to bump into someone. Hands quickly tried to grab her and hold her in place but she was fast enough to violently knock them away and back away from the person.

' _Fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuck.'_ Round and round the rabbit ran in Chloe's head as her head whipped this way and that, taking in the fucked situation she was in. Apparently, a few other assholes from school had been following her since she now had her back to a wall and she was surrounded by drunk idiots.

There were five in total and Chloe shoved one of them away when he tried to grab her bag, the force of her shove pushing her back as well and literally putting her back against the wall. The teenager knew she could handle herself well enough in a fair and even slightly unfair fight but this was too much.

Outnumbered and clearly out armed, considering three had glass bottles that could be used as weapons, she still had only one option. She didn't wait for them to take the initiative, she'd released the clip on the strap of her bag and let it fall to the ground as she moved.

Her smashed her fist into the face of the guy she'd just shoved, he'd lifted his head after he staggered only to be thrown to the ground as her punch broke cartilage and skin. He screamed obscenities as he went down but Chloe hit the wall again when one of the other guys decked her in return.

She lashed out with her left leg, hitting another one that had advanced on her and his knee yielded to the force of her awkward kick. Chloe twisted her body and fed the momentum the action produced into her next punch as she pounded her fist into the side of his face.

She heard a loud crack but she didn't know if her knuckle or his face broke since she was hit again and this time it didn't let up. Chloe was forced to huddle against the wall as three of the guys began pounding on her, fists and feet swinging and hitting her as she did her best to protect her face.

Chloe tried to lash out after one of them grabbed her arms and she heard the sound of glass breaking. The second guy she punched earlier tried to join in but went down when her foot rocketed into his crotch with enough force to drop him like a puppet without strings.

Her victory, as small as it was, vanished when searing pain blossomed on the left side of her face and she threw herself backwards. She started cursing as her left eye was forced to stay closed once blood covered it while she crawled backwards as fast as she could once the hands holding her let go.

Chloe glared at them but with probably half her face covered in blood and her back against the wall she knew she looked pathetic. She tried not to flinch when she heard more glass breaking and climbed to her feet, she was definitely going down today but she wasn't going down like a bitch.

"HEY! What the hell do you think your doing?!" The girl didn't look to the source of the voice, she kept her eyes on the football jocks in front of her as she kept her fists raised in front of her. They on the other hand took one look and decided to run in the opposite directions. "Are you okay?"

"Cowards, fucking cowards." Chloe muttered as she slowly slid down the wall but the person who interrupted the fight held her up. She spat out the blood that flowed into her mouth when she spoke before turning to look at her savoir, considering her injuries she didn't get a proper look. "Thanks."

You're hurt pretty bad, let's get you inside and I'll call an ambulance." She decided the person talking to her was a woman from the voice and the size of the hands holding her up. Chloe tried to reach for her bag and nearly toppled over so the lady grabbed it and began half carrying the girl…somewhere, inside somewhere.

"No ambulance, parents will come." Her mind finally caught up and dissected what the woman told her and Chloe sputtered out her protest when her shoes hit hardwood flooring. "Bunch of assholes, just make more trouble at home."

"Alright, no ambulance. Least let me patch you up then." It wasn't a question and both of them knew it. Chloe didn't even think of saying no as the lady continued to half-carry her while she herself kept both eyes closed and felt the blood running down her face, she was in a bad way right now.

The woman's intent was to gently lower the Bluenette onto a nearby wooden bench but once one of Chloe's legs hit it she just dropped. The fifteen-year-old just let her body ragdoll onto the bench and only stopped her movement when she pitched forwards and nearly fell off.

With her eyes still closed Chloe felt dizzy as the woman moved away, presumably to get a First-Aid kit, while a string of curses left her lips. The girl either had a mini black out or didn't focus at all cause the next thing she knew was the woman was sitting next to her, cleaning the blood from her face and was talking to her.

"Wha-? Didn't hear…" Chloe mumbled and cringed slightly before regretting that action as well since both caused her new wounds to pain her. A hand gripped her right shoulder and was used to move the girl into a slightly more upright position.

"I said you did pretty well against them. Five against one, they had weapons, numbers and you have absolutely no idea how to fight." Chloe hummed softly at the praise from the stranger and hissed when an anti-septic burned at her cuts. "You dished out a broken nose and probably broke the other guys knee as well."

"I'm Jennifer Harding, just so you know." Jennifer continued her work as Chloe did her best not to move or make a sound as she continued to tend to the Blunette's wounds. She raised an eyebrow when she felt a hand gently take hold of her right hand. "Bruised your knuckles breaking the guys jaw."

"Chloe Price." She mumbled her name while doing her best not to move her face too much and Jennifer put her hand down. The next cloth to touch her face didn't sting as much but liquid rolled down the left side of her face so she assumed it was just wet with water. " 'm gonna need stitches?"

"A couple, not much that's hospital serious so I can do it myself if you want." She happily nodded her head and hissed when few strands of her hair landed on her wounds. Chloe used her uninjured hand to brush the fallen hair behind her hair as she heard Jennifer rummaging through something.

Her entire body tensed in pain as a pain filled and laboured hiss was let loose between her tightly clenched teeth. Chloe didn't know if she was helping or torturing her as Jennifer used pure alcohol she got from somewhere to completely disinfect and numb the left side of Chloe's face.

"This'll still hurt so try not to move at all, try to relax your face." With that said Jennifer slowly pushed the needle through skin and muscle after pinching a cut as close to closed as possible.

 **ooo000ooo**

"Here, drink." Chloe took the offer cold bottle of water and after sitting up took a long sip. The cool water sliding down her throat gave her a wonderful distraction from the stinging around her left eye. "I did my best but the cuts on the left side of your eye were too deep, most of them will scar."

"Huh…Cool." A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips while she reached up to lightly brush the stitched cuts, being very mindful of the warnings Jennifer gave her. She took another long sip of water being closing the bottle and turning to look at the woman. "What do I owe you?"

"An explanation would be nice. What's a girl like you doing running around at this time of night?" Jennifer asked and was internally surprised when Chloe met her intimidating stare. "Arcadia Bay is quite safe but clearly…"

Chloe frowned when she gestured to her face but stopped when she felt a few of the stitches tug at the skin they were threaded through. She looked around at the fighting studio she was sitting inside and tried to think of a way to explain or come up with a plausible excuse.

"My mom's marrying a Douchebag she literally met at my father's funeral, didn't even have the respect to wait until he was in the ground." Chloe spat out with a s much anger as she could and didn't see Jennifer's eyes widen slightly. "They told me probably three hours ago."

"I got mad, my friend got me blackmail on the Douchebag and I used some it earlier. I know a side of him that my… parent doesn't know about." She opened the bottle again and took another sip of water before going on. "Considering what I said, no doubt he'll start beating me if I go back."

"So what, you're gonna run away? Leave Arcadia Bay and go somewhere else?" Jennifer asked and was a little surprised when Chloe shook her head. "Then what, hide out in an abandoned building and do… What do you think you're going to do?"

"I don't know…" Chloe mumbled morosely as she looked at her feet, furrowing her brow as she tried to come up with even the smallest of plans. "The Douchebag has a gun cabinet in the garage, maybe I'll grab one and shoot him after he's hit me…Probably won't get charged s'long as Prescott ain't involved."

"That's your plan, hide away or shoot a man once he's hit you?" The woman seemed surprised, possibly a little impressed but Chloe merely shrugged her shoulders. "Fate has to fuckin' hate doesn't it?"

Silence permeated the Studio as the two females sat on the long wooden bench, one contemplating her very near and probably violence filled future while the other considered the first, thinking of whether or not she should help and how she could.

"You know…This is a fighting studio and I am the owner…If you wanted I could teach you a few things…" Jennifer said, gently testing the waters and wasn't too surprised to see Chloe look at her with a minute amount of hope in her eyes. "Lessons I give usually cost a bit but…"

"I got money…Don't know how much but I got." Chloe reached into her jackets inner pocket and pulled out the leather wallet she lifted earlier. The I.D. Book came with it causing Jennifer to widen her eyes and revaluate the fifteen-year-old girl. "You got a lighter?"

"Never mind, I'll just dump it later." The book was placed back into the pocket before Jennifer could say anything and the blue haired girl began looking through the wallet. She turned her body sideways, a leg on either side of the bench as she began dropping notes onto said bench right between her legs.

Jennifer wanted to say something, to stop Chloe from counting the money she was pulling from the wallet but she couldn't. She was too stupefied by the amount that was coming from the wallet, she was fucking jaw to the ground shocked when the amount reached just over twenty-five hundred dollars, all in large bills.

"How much'll this get me? Five, six lessons?" Chloe really hoped she was wrong, she could live off this money for three, maybe four months if she really pushed it. When she saw the wide eyed and open jaw look of the woman she thought it wasn't enough. "I have more if you really nee…"

"Chloe." She looked up at Jennifer as she was reaching for her own wallet in her back pocket. "When I said I'd teach you I meant we could cut a deal. I'll teach you and you do a few things for me, clean the studio, put up posters and once your good enough help me with other classes."

Without looking away Chloe slowly and methodically piled the money up before folding it into a bundle and putting in a pocket. Jennifer looked up at the girl when she stood up and rose to her feet when Chloe held her hand out, neither one breaking eye contact.

"There are only two people in the world I don't hate…" She soft in a deathly quiet whisper while slowly increasing the pressure she put on Jennifer's hand while the fighter hid her surprise and small amount of fear at the hate and anger swirling in those blue eyes. "…Don't give me a reason to make it one again."

 **ooo000ooo**

 **In the interest of a newfound want of Scientific Pursuit and desperate need to compartmentalize and put a majority of my thoughts to paper as time goes on I have started this Scientific Journal to note aspects and extensions of myself and my powers.**

 **In a stupid want of full disclosure I, Maxine Caulfield, declare this to be my personal journal on my Entity Powers, my own knowledge and all the Max's hiding inside my head.**

She stopped, looking at Aiden as he floated nearby Jodie and Cole, those two and the rest of the world were frozen in time. As if sensing her gaze Aiden turned and glared at Max as she sat on the bed, knees bent as she lay back and rest the thick, hard cover journal against her thighs.

 **A personal note of the Entity Aiden; He's become more wary, aggressive and far less passive in his hate for me and my powers. My growing friendship with his owner Jodie Holmes and my constant and extensive use of my current range of powers seems to anger him greatly.**

Max glanced up again and saw he'd moved closer to Jodie and wasn't looking at her anymore, rather he began looking around the room for something.

 **A thorough, and secret, exploration and testing of my powers has led to a few theories I've fairly confident about and confirmed existing thoughts about my current powers.**

 **Time Travel;**

 **I've known since the first month in Seattle that I could bend time to suit my needs and whims, defying the laws of physics and nature by doing so. The only thought on how and why I can do this is that an Entity is either bound to my soul or fused to it, far different from Aiden who is merely tethered to Jodie by a …Soul Coil?**

 **Rewind; There are several types of Rewind I'm capable of and one that I'm half certain is possible but testing it is dangerous.**

 **Basic Rewind; Rewinding time while I stay in place, watching everything and everyone move in reverse as time takes back actions they performed as well as taking away their memories of before the rewind. I can rewind up to up to four days now without suffering ill-effects, it's enough for now.**

 **Stutter Rewind; This one is difficult but I'm capable more than half the time in using it. I can stutter time, causing myself to jump to from minutes to an hour without watching time flow backwards by basically teleporting myself or the world back a certain amount of time.**

 **Hard Rewind; I…I probably need to die for this to happen, I think it happened once before but I can't really remember when or how it happened. I don't think my powers will let me die, naturally or otherwise and it sends me back with enough time to prevent what killed me.**

 **Standstill; Holding time in place is the easiest thing to do, as I write this the world is frozen while I continue to be aware and active.**

 **Passive Standstill; This is the easy one, where I just hold time in place while I don't move around or try to do something. Small actions like looking around are okay but nothing more, I can probably hold it indefinitely.**

 **Active Standstill; An example is doing this, moving and doing things as I hold time still. Moving through and negating my own powers on my movement, even subconsciously, creates a feedback loop that makes it harder as time goes on. How long I can hold it depends on what I do, just walking would probably result in no more than two hours.**

 **Time Jump; Jumping through time to a specific time is something I only did once and it was only a few minutes into the past so I wouldn't mess anything up with the experiment.**

 **Temporary Time Jump; I can jump through time using a photo, maybe a memory if I try hard enough?, staying there is only temporary and any changes I make will take effect when I leave. I doubt that possibly of creating a Time Paradox since my powers seemed to be removed from time itself, does that make sense?**

 **Transposition Time Jump; Probably not the right word to use but its my powers so suck it. I haven't dared to do this but I believe I have the potential… This involves Time Jumping and then grounding myself in that time, making it permanent and blocking off whatever forces me back.**

 **NOTE! The only rewind powers that MIGHT affect other Entities are the Hard Rewind and Transposition.**

' _Good enough for now.'_ She closed her eyes and let the back of her head rest against the wall above the headboard of the bed. _'This is stupid, writing this down is the most dangerous thing I can do…Is it really another Max forcing this or is it something else?'_

Max continued to contemplate the fact as she moved about the bedroom, slipping out of her clothes before grabbing a fresh pair. She'd been in that clothing set for more than thirty-eight hours and even though she didn't get dirty or stink it still made the girl uncomfortable to do that without just cause.

Taking a quick shower before getting dressed and moving over to the small dresser that was pushed into a corner of her shared bedroom. Max didn't spend too much time sitting in front of the mirror and putting on makeup, honestly all she did was touch up her matte black eye liner and eye shadow.

' _I've been doing that less and less ever since I got here.'_ She told herself as she stood up and moved over to HER shelf in the living room, Aiden growling at her as she walked past him and Jodie. _'It's strange, I haven't had to touch up my hair in months.'_

"Are you ready Max?" Cole asked as he looked towards the bedroom opening when time began to flow normally. "We need to get you two to the party soon or we'll be late."

"I'm ready, just need my camera." Her monotonous tone helped lessen the shock of her suddenly appearing in the room but they still jumped. Max reflected on how they'd somewhat been desensitized to it while she clipped her camera to her bag strap and three cases onto her belt.

Not much was said as the three walked out the Facility and to Cole's car, nothing that Max bothered to listen to anyway. Her mind had already wandered over to more important things, namely Chloe's latest letter she got last week.

She'd lost control when she finished the letter, Max had blacked out completely so she didn't know what she did but when she came to everything was destroyed. The training room she'd been reading the letter in was obliterated, walls caved in and bent with fist sized tears in them.

Half a wall had been destroyed or torn from it's place while a few areas were warped in spiral patterns, no doubt her powers. The only things that survived whatever happened was Max herself and the letter that lay on the ground a few feet away.

Max let the thoughts go once she climbed into the black Sedan with lightly tinted windows and saw next to Jodie in the back. She decided it would be better to make a list of the Max's she knew about…even though it would bring her back to that event.

Pulling her book out Max leaned against the car door and bent her legs before pulling them onto the seat next to her ass, creating a somewhat comfortable table from her legs while also tilting the book away from Jodie so the girl couldn't read what she'd written and would write.

 **The Max's; My mind is not my own and yet I'm the only one there, some Doctor diagnosed me with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Means they think I have multiple, completely different identities in my head but that's wrong, there's just me and all very different.**

 **Bat-Max; She is what she is, only thing I can really say is She's Batman.**

 **Sad-Max; Basically, she's the entirety of my depression, loneliness and despair. She doesn't contemplate suicide or giving up, I hope.**

 **Max; It's me, the original me maybe but the one that changed. I'm now monotonous, I don't care about a lot of things and the only time I show emotion is when it comes to Jodie or Chloe, hella more with the second.**

 **Maxine; I think…she's the one that holds all my love and affection maybe? I think I channel this Max whenever I think about Chloe, about her vibrant blue hair and her sparkling, pacific blue eyes and her luscious… I haven't had reason to become her.**

 **Mad-Max; I don't know shit about her, other than she'd a fuck ton more powerful than me and that she will kill anything that threatens Chloe.**

 **NOTE! ME! Remember, when you become the other Max's your still you and still in control Max, your influenced and adjust to who they are but Mad-Max takes over completely, be careful because you have no control.**

' _Isn't that a twist of fate, you don't have control because of other people but now you have no control because of yourself.'_ Max chewed on her lower lip for a while, idly noting the metallic taste of blood after a few minutes.


End file.
